Siba journal winter 2017 web

ISSUE 103 WIN T ER 2 0 1 7

BANKING ON IT NEW RIVER BREWERY’S FIRST YEAR IN BUSINESS A BRITISH BEER REVIVAL Roger Protz on our proud heritage

BEERX 2017

What to expect at this year’s event

THE BIG INTERVIEW

We meet Everards’ Stephen Gould

MEET THE BREWER

Matt Clarke on his Hawkshead adventure

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EDITORS COMMENT

CONTRIBUTORS TO THIS ISSUE WORDS ROGER PROTZ PHOTOGRAPHY DOUGLAS BARCLAY

WELCOME TO THE WINTER ISSUE OF THE SIBA JOURNAL Welcome to the first issue of the SIBA Journal for 2017!

Journal. We wish him well in his future endeavors.

I do hope you all had a fantastic, fun and profitable end to 2016 and that you are able to enjoy some well-earned downtime this month.

Back to this issue, and I was privileged for this edition to speak to a number of the market’s best-know and most respected names, including Everards’ Stephen Gould who has pioneered partnerships between small local brewers and regionals through Projects William and Artisan (see pages 28-33 to find out more).

I also met some fascinating new entrants to the sector in the founders of New River Brewery in Hertfordshire – less than a year into production and already making waves in the sector (see pages 38-45 to read the full interview).

As ever with any New Year, changes are afoot. And you may have noticed that our usual December issue has moved to this new regular post-Christmas slot. This is in response to members telling us that they were rushed off their feet in December and would have far more time in January to catch up with industry news and views.

That is not the only change we have made this issue, as you may also have noticed we have continued the process of updating the look of the Journal, building on the re-design we did in 2016, and we hope you will find this edition even easier to read and just as packed with exclusive interviews, insight and information to help inspire you and support you in growing your business.

The new format signals a move to a new publisher for this issue – the team at Media Alive – who I would like to welcome on board, and who will now be handling all the advertising for the magazine (contact details for them can be found at the bottom of this page).

It also means we say a very fond farewell to Chris Freer, who myself and the whole SIBA team would like to extend their thanks to for his support over the many years he has published the Society of Independent Brewers PO Box 136, Ripon, North Yorkshire HG4 5WW Tel: 0845 337 9158 www.siba.co.uk Email: secretariat@siba.co.uk

Elsewhere, Matt Clarke, the outspoken New Zealander who heads up the brewing team at Hawkshead, shares his thoughts on the growth of the sector and the current trend for sours and barrelaged beers on pages 19 to 25, and beer writer extraordinaire Roger Protz offers his view on the revival of the British beer sector in his exclusive column on page 27.

As ever you can email me direct at carolinenodder@hotmail.com with all your news, views and ideas for the Journal and don’t forget to register at www.siba.co.uk for weekly e-news updates from the SIBA team.

Happy reading!

Caroline Nodder Editor, SIBA Journal

Editor: Caroline Nodder (carolinenodder@hotmail.com) Published by: Media Alive Limited Produced on behalf of SIBA by: Media Alive Limited, 2nd Floor, The Red House, 119 Fore Street, Hertford, Hertfordshire SG14 1AX. T: 01992 505 810 Creative Director: Darren Kefford (darren@media-alive.co.uk) Studio Manager: Jon Hardy (jon@media-alive.co.uk) Advertising Sales: Claire Rooney (claire@media-alive.co.uk) Managing Director: Dan Rooney (dan@media-alive.co.uk)

Printed by: Elle Media Group, 7 Seax Way, Southfields Industrial Park, Basildon, Essex SS15 6SW

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or be any other means, electronic or mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of SIBA and/or Media Alive Limited.

Whilst every effort is made to ensure that the information in this publication is accurate and up-to-date, neither SIBA nor Media Alive Limited take any responsibility for errors or omissions. Opinions expressed in editorial contributions to this publication are those of their respective authors and not necessarily shared either by SIBA or Media Alive Limited.

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SIBA JOURNAL WINTER 2017

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WINTER

CONTENTS

2017 ISSUE 103

BEERX 2017

MEET THE BREWER

BUSINESS PROFILE

PAGES 56-61

PAGES 19-25

PAGES 38-45

What to expect at this year’s event

Matt Clarke, Hawkshead Brewery

NEWS 9-15 16-17 62-71

FEATURES

SIBA NEWS

The latest from SIBA HQ including a reminder of the FSQ audit deadlines

SIBA MEMBER BENEFITS

Are you making the most of your membership?

REGIONAL BEER COMPETITIONS

Winners from the latest SIBA Independent Beer Competitions

19-25

MEET THE BREWER

28-33

THE BIG INTERVIEW

34-35

SIBA LAUNCHES HDC

85-91

SIBA REGIONAL NEWS

38-45

92-105

SUPPLIER NEWS

47-53

COMMENT

56-61

7 8 27 55

News from around the North West region

The latest news and opinion from SIBA’s Supplier Associates

MD’S UPDATE

Mike Benner on the four pillars of SIBA’s 2020 Beer Vision

CHAIRMAN’S COLUMN

Guy Sheppard, Chairman of SIBA, signs off his final round

GUEST COLUMNIST

Roger Protz on why British beer deserves recognition

TECHNICAL FOCUS

New River Brewery

Brewlabs Dr Keith Thomas looks back at 2016

72-73 75-79 80-83 109

WWW.SIBA.CO.UK

Hawkshead’s Matt Clarke on his journey into beer

We meet innovative Everards’ MD Stephen Gould

A new route to market launches for SIBA Members

BUSINESS PROFILE

New River Brewery is barely a year old but already making waves

BUSINESS BACK OFFICE

Advice on marketing, off flavours in beer, holiday pay and financial planning

BEERX 2017

This year’s event is bigger and better than ever – find out more here!

FOCUS: BREWING INGREDIENTS Updates and advice from suppliers, manufacturers and distributors

FOCUS: SALES, WHOLESALE AND MARKETING News and insight from the world of promotions, marketing and telesales

GOLD SPONSORS

Brewers Select and Premier Systems Limited

MEET THE SIBA TEAM

Introducing three members of the SIBA team

SIBA JOURNAL WINTER 2017

5

MD’S UPDATE

CAN ONE SIZE FIT ALL TOWARDS A 2020 BEER VISION FOR SIBA? I write as we head towards the end of yet another exciting year in beer (although you will be reading this in a new year!).

At times like this I like to sit back pensively with a pint, take stock, review what we’ve done over the year and look ahead. As SIBA heads for middle age; we are forty years young in 2020, it seems particularly appropriate this year.

The challenges of the beer market in 2016 means we need a ‘2020 Beer Vision’, a vision which considers a few home truths, takes stock of our achievements and sets out what we want the beer market to look like as we hit the big 4-0.

At the end of the day what you want is sales, sales and more sales. We want more share for our members’ brewing businesses.

By 2020 we want beer drinkers to associate the very best of British beer with our members’ fine produce. We want all retailers - pubs, shops, bars, cafes, hotels, restaurants included, to recognise the benefits of beer from genuine independent and local brewers to their businesses and to be selling them in droves.

Ultimately, we want to increase the overall share of the beer market for SIBA members, so that we are earning share from bigger brewers and not eating each other.

Over the last two years SIBA has set out its stall, improved communication, created a winning team and tried to focus in on what matters most in a very challenging marketplace where many members are struggling to build new business. That focus is achieved in a number of ways; by making it easier to run your business so you can concentrate on brewing and selling, keeping you informed of trends and news in the market, making a noise to create new markets in export and the wider hospitality sector, representing your interests in our lobbying to ensure we have a regulatory and legislative environment which works for you and providing member benefits and commercial services which help build sales.

While we have been working away at this, the rest of the beer world has not stood still. Craft beer has hit the mainstream and the globals want a share of it. A big share. That, and the pressure that so many new breweries brings, means everyone has become more competitive and medium-sized brewers have upped their game to compete with smaller brewers as well as their bigger brethren. Prices are not increasing and margins have been squeezed, yet according to our members’ survey, most breweries remain positive about the future.

As local markets become saturated it is essential that we, as your trade association, remain focused on the things that matter and which work. Our key ‘big four’ pillars are the SIBA Food Safety & Quality Certificate, the Assured British Independent Craft Brewer initiative, our campaigning for the retention of Small Breweries’ Relief and calls for a more ethical and flexible approach to pricing.

These are what we will focus on to build our 2020 Beer Vision.

Our membership is now more segmented than ever before as we are called upon to represent the smallest and newest of hobby brewers right up to significant established independent brewers.

We are held accountable from right across the SIBA spectrum.

So, can one size fit all? Given the diversity of our membership, some will have to wear slightly baggy clothes and on others the SIBA clothes will be tighter, but only by moving forwards as ‘one SIBA’ will we achieve our strategic vision of becoming the voice of British beer. It’s a difficult path to “At the end of the tread and we will follow a centrist day what you want approach in our activities in that our big four pillars will benefit members is sales, sales and who strive for and are committed to more sales.” excellence, growth and sustainability.

Over the coming weeks we need to hold a conversation about how SIBA needs to evolve to ensure we are one step ahead of the game and how we can help your business thrive in the headwinds we face from legislation, increasing costs, uncertainty and a dynamic, innovative and exciting, but crowded marketplace. The time for internal navel gazing has passed. We have set out our strategy, launched our big four pillars and in so doing created the tools for success.

We need to build on these achievements, respond to changing circumstances and ensure that SIBA membership is a must for every serious brewing business in the land.

Now is the time to stand united in taking determined steps to enable us to help build sales for members as brewing businesses committed to excellence, growth and sustainability and to create a path for independent brewers of all shapes who aspire to be the best.

May you have a hoppy and prosperous 2017.

Mike

WWW.SIBA.CO.UK

MIKE BENNER MANAGING DIRECTOR mike.benner@siba.co.uk

SIBA JOURNAL WINTER 2017

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SIBA CHAIRMAN’S COLUMN

THE LAST ROUND ON ME I have been writing these ‘Chairman’s Rounds’ for three years and under our rules I can only serve as Chairman of SIBA for three consecutive years so this will be my last round! Another Trustee will have to take over at our AGM – so whoever they may be, I wish them well.

are drinking by the gallon (to be seen to be responsible, I must add - perhaps not literally!). People of all ages, women and men, are trying beers that range from super hoppy IPAs to dark traditional porters and all the colours and strengths in between.

We have great beer and food pairing and as for brewing itself, cans have made a return to the marketplace and they now include 'real ale' in cans, something that was unthinkable even a couple of years ago. Brewers have always been good at working together, but that has been taken to new levels with collaborations between brewers producing some really boundary pushing beers. Project Venus has been a great initiative from the brewsters and I look forward to Project Mars getting off the ground, perhaps the male brewers can take on the brewsters in a Brew Off style challenge – I jest with Project Mars, but also throw down the gauntlet, surely there are some male brewers out there who would be game enough to take on the brewsters.

Looking back over my time at the helm, SIBA has moved on considerably. At my first AGM we changed our structure, moving from a Council of Trustees to a Board of Directors and creating an Executive to oversee what our organisation does.

Mike Benner joined us and along with his talented Senior Management Team, took a long look at where we were, coming up with our plans for the years ahead. It was not that SIBA was in a bad way, but we had evolved from a small membership organisation to a much larger beast “If we crystal ball in quite a small period of time and we now find ourselves in a much better state with a proper gazed just 10 years sense of direction. ago, I don’t think we

Perhaps my pet hate is still finding some pubs, bars, restaurants and the like where the beer offering lacks any imagination.

With so many of us shouting about it, how can these places not have heard that many people are now crying out for non-mainstream beers, whether they be local or craft (or both, because surely they are both). In the 21st century we do not still deserve to find ourselves in restaurants where the sole beer offering on the wine list (why no beer list??) is a lager from a multi-national brewer.

From the start of my Chairmanship I wanted to would have seen beer get round the regions, not always an easy feat as being where it is for a brewer based in Devon, so I took on the now.” role of overseeing the beer competitions. Not only has it been a great way to see most of our brewing members, (and for you to see me) but many associate members come along as well. The way that Looking to the future, where is beer going? If we crystal ball brewers, associates and others gather at these competitions gazed just 10 years ago, I don’t think we would have seen beer provides excellent opportunities for networking and I know as being where it is now, so I hardly dare speculate where it that many who go to these competitions have become firm will be 10 years hence. But if I have one wish, that is to see an friends. I formed the Competitions Committee, which is made end to those who are scathing of others’ beer choices; CAMRA’s up of Trustees from every region, and this has increased the Re-Vitalisation Project has made me think of what a force for consistency between regional competitions and helped raise good CAMRA has been, but there have been times when beer the professionalism of all our competitions. I am convinced that aficionados, in the name of CAMRA, have been downright rude we do need a brewer to oversee what goes on and I am very and insulting to beer drinkers and publicans just because their pleased to have done that for the last three years; unless the beer choice doesn’t suit them. We need to accept that people new Chairman wishes to do that, our Senior Management Team like lots of different beers, whether it be a mainstream lager, is very happy for me to continue in that role and I would be real ale, craft bottle/can or anything else and not go round delighted to continue, so you may not have seen the last of me insulting them just because they don’t like what you like. And in that respect!

I don’t just refer to CAMRA geeks here, there are too many scathing remarks on social media, blogs and elsewhere. I’m all Do I have any regrets from my time as Chairman? Generally for the availability of choice, but I don’t like to see myself, or not, it has been a very interesting time for the brewing trade anyone else, being told what they must and must not drink. and I feel privileged to be part of it. There have been great changes in our industry in recent years which have been difficult for many of us to keep up with, let alone embrace. The emergence of micro-pubs, craft beer bars, bottle shops etc, has led to a much greater awareness of the multitude of styles of beer that are now being brewed in this country and people

8

SIBA JOURNAL WINTER 2017

So whatever your choice (and I do hope your choice is beer), let us raise a glass and say: Cheers!!

Guy

GUY SHEPPARD CHAIRMAN guy.sheppard@siba.co.uk

SIBA NEWS

FSQ Audit: Don’t miss the deadline!

SIBA’s brewing Members who are part of Beerflex have until May 1st to set a date for a Food Safety & Quality audit, which must be completed by August 31st this year to continue supplying beer through the scheme.

If your brewery uses Beerflex and has not already been audited make sure you don’t miss the May deadline or you could face being delisted in September once the end of August cut-off is reached.

The SIBA FSQ was launched last year, and we believe it represents a great step forward in providing all members with a practical means of access to an independent quality-driven audit that promises to deliver genuine benefits for their brewery. We recognise that not all members are ready and able to step up to SALSA or BRC schemes and it is right that SIBA, as the leading trade association for British craft brewers, creates what we regard as a first step towards SALSA. You might be exempt from the requirement if you already have SALSA, NSF or BRC certificates in place or have begun the process to get them.

Here are the answers to some commonly asked questions from our members about the FSQ: Why has the scheme been created?

Multiple retailing groups are increasingly demanding food safety and quality assurance from their suppliers. Retailers considering becoming customers of SIBA wish to differentiate between good and poor brewers and the latter must be seen to have ongoing process of raising these quality standards.

Do I need to be SIBA FSQ audited?

If you are a brewer currently trading on Beerflex and do not have a SALSA, NSF or BRC accreditation certificate then yes you do. By August 2017 all Brewers trading on Beerflex must hold a valid SIBA FSQ certificate, SALSA, NSF or BRC certificate.

I am not on Beerflex do I still need the SIBA FSQ? No, you do not. SIBA Brewing Members can remain members of SIBA without being FSQ enrolled, however, you can choose to be audited should you wish.

How much does it cost?

The cost of the SIBA FSQ is £300 per year. £600 for 2 years cover that is payable over a 10 month period.

MAY 1ST

AUG 31ST

How long will it take?

The audit will take no longer than a morning or afternoon.

Who will carry out my audit?

Audits will be carried out by an independent assessor who will be professionally qualified. The auditor will call to introduce him/herself before they visit.

How will I know when my audit is?

You will be contacted by SIBA with a proposed month for your audit. Should this not be convenient you can request a month of your choice by simply responding to the email advising with the contact details that are requested.

How will I receive my results?

Following your audit and discussion with your auditor, the auditors’ report will be sent to the SIBA Food Technologist who will review and send on to SIBA who in turn will forward to you.

To check whether you need to take action contact Rachel Harriott at Rachel.Harriott@ siba.co.uk or call the Ripon office on 0845 337 9158.

BEERX: New beer marketing conference launched Beer Now is a new conference about beer marketing and communication which will take place during BeerX. It is an evolution of the European Beer Bloggers Conference and will feature highly-useful content for marketing and communications professionals working in the beer and pub industry.

Beer Now runs from March 17-19 at iceSheffield and registration is already open at www.beernow.org.uk Participants will learn from experts about how to market beer more effectively to consumers through multiple channels. Using social media and email marketing is vital and there will be sessions on effective use of these media, but it is also important to consider beer events, beer tourism and running successful tap rooms and pubs.

PARTICIPANTS WILL LEARN FROM EXPERTS ABOUT HOW TO MARKET BEER MORE EFFECTIVELY TO CONSUMERS THROUGH MULTIPLE CHANNELS.

As well as having a great overview of the marketing environment for beer, you will have access to SIBA’s Beer Alive and the BeerX exhibition. There will also be other Beer Now events and features such as Beer, Dinner, Brewery Tour and Live Music, hosted by Thornbridge Brewery.

Registration is open and you can save money if you make your booking now. To view the full Beer Now Agenda and reserve your place go to www.beernow.org.uk

WWW.SIBA.CO.UK

SIBA JOURNAL WINTER 2017

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SIBA NEWS

New classes launched to encourage diversity at International Brewing & Cider Awards Entries to the International Brewing & Cider Awards (IBCAs) 2017 are set to exceed that of previous years, say organisers Brewing & Technology Services, who attribute the uplift in the number and diversity of entries to new classes introduced to the competitions this year, as well as growing awareness of the awards among producers and brand owners worldwide.

Judges at the 2015 cider competition (l-r) Helen Thomas of Westons Cider, Hanna Talvioja, R&D manager at Oy Sinebrychoff and David Sipes of Angry Orchard Hard Cider Company

Three new classes have been added to the beer competition: for sour beer; zero gluten beer and extra strong beer (ABV of 10% and above), while in the cider competition, classes have been extended to accommodate two classes of flavoured cider/perry or pear cider: one for fruit flavoured cider and one for ciders flavoured with other ingredients, such as herbs, spices, plants and honey.

In addition, a new ‘speciality cider’ class caters for cider and perry or pear ciders made using innovative or atypical process, such as ice cider, barrel-aged cider or apple win.

Chair of judges for the competitions, Bill Taylor, said: “We always review the classes ahead of the launch of our competition and this time, we added new ones for beers and ciders. The aim is to make sure the awards are always up to date, reflecting current market trends as well as brewing and cider making traditions.”

Entries to the Awards are open until 31 January 2017 and judging by a panel of 49 experts will start on 7 March in Burton-upon-Trent. Entries can be made online at: www.brewingawards.org. uk or www.ciderawards.org.uk.

SIBA joins BBPA and CAMRA to publish ‘The Story of Beer Duty’ ‘The Story of Beer Duty: 2008-2016’, published in Autumn 2016, details how the Government’s decision to abolish the Beer Duty Escalator helped to spark a major turnaround in the fortunes of the beer and pub sector.

The report, published by the BBPA, SIBA and CAMRA, shows the two different approaches to beer duty between 2008 and 2016. It outlines the damage caused by the Beer Duty Escalator, which saw beer duty increase by 42 per cent between 2008 and 2012. During this time, beer sales fell by a staggering 18.5 per cent, 3,700 pubs closed and 75,000 jobs were lost.

“BEER MAKES UP NEARLY SEVEN IN EVERY 10 DRINKS SOLD IN PUBS.”

The abolition of the escalator in 2013, after years of campaigning by SIBA and the major trade groups, coupled with a ‘penny off a pint’ led to a major turnaround in the beer and pub sector. Beer sales have stabilised, with 2014 seeing the first year of beer sales growth in a decade.

As the report details, beer makes up nearly seven in every 10 drinks sold in pubs. The reversal of falling beer sales has also generated investment in pub estates and breweries. More than £1 billion is being invested annually by brewers and pub owners, both in state-of-the-art brewing technology and refurbishments of Britain’s much-loved pubs.

Brigid Simmonds, BPBA Chief Executive, said: “The Story of Beer report shows us that ‘a penny off a pint’ in 2013 was much more than a good headline or political gimmick. The effects of the removal of the Beer Duty Escalator have been extraordinary, and I am proud that the BBPA, alongside SIBA and CAMRA, played such a key role in its abolition.”

Mike Benner, SIBA Managing Director, added: “SIBA is proud to have played a central role alongside the BBPA and CAMRA in the scrapping of the Beer Duty Escalator. This, along with subsequent duty cuts, has had a hugely positive effect on the beer industry by keeping prices affordable for consumers and encouraging investment into independent craft breweries, and it is essential that support for this great British industry continues.”

Download ‘The Story of Beer Duty’ through the BBPA website at www.beerandpub.com

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SIBA JOURNAL WINTER 2017

Want to reward your permanent stockists?

If a pub agrees to stock your beer on a permanent basis why not sponsor them for Cask Marque? You will be helping the pub grow trade and they will be promoted on the CaskFinder app, which is used 70,000 times a month to find Cask Marque pubs.

The key to building a beer brand and consumer loyalty is to have pubs stock your beer on a permanent basis. Research shows that Cask Marque pubs grow total beer sales by more than 4% per annum against non Cask Marque pubs. Why? Because quality matters and the pubs and their staff have a passion for beer. This results in an increase in footfall.

The cost of 12 months sponsorship is just £85+VAT in the first year and in subsequent years £65+VAT with the licensee paying an equivalent amount.

Once the pub has been nominated for Cask Marque they will receive two unannounced visits where the assessor will inspect up to six cask beers on the bar for temperature, appearance, aroma and taste. If the pub passes the inspections they will be sent their plaque and certificate plus point of sale material.

You can nominate a pub that you intend to sponsor today by ringing Angie in the Cask Marque office on 01206 752212.

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SIBA NEWS

SIBA responds to ‘mixed fortunes’ Autumn Statement

SIBA marks change of guard at All-Party Parliamentary Beer Group (APPBG)

The Government’s Autumn statement took place on the 23rd of November 2016, with SIBA’s Managing Director Mike Benner welcoming the Chancellor’s decision not to increase Beer Duty, something which SIBA will continue to lobby the Government on in 2017.

SIBA has welcomed Graham Evans MP, new Chairman of the APPBG, and commended the work of former Chair Andrew Griffiths MP.

However, it wasn’t all good news, with improved business rates for pubs not on the agenda.

“SIBA welcomed the Chancellor’s decision not to increase beer duty and support independent British breweries and pubs at a challenging time, but we had hoped for more support on business rates for pubs,” said Benner. “We are calling for further cuts to beer duty in the 2017 Budget and beyond to help repair the damage caused by the beer duty escalator between 2008 and 2012 which lead to increases in beer duty of 42% and saw beer sales in pubs fall by 24%. The industry supports almost one million British jobs and deserves further support to enable it to continue to bring pleasure to millions of people.”

Mike Benner, Managing Director of SIBA, said: “We’re delighted to welcome Graham into his new role. He has already demonstrated his commitment to and enthusiasm for the beer and pubs industries since he became an MP and I very much look forward to working with him in the future.”

Benner added that retiring Chair Andrew Griffiths MP should be commended for his outstanding work on behalf of the beer sector.

He added: “Andrew has been a great champion of British beer and brewing and his achievements have been outstanding. The campaign for a cut in beer duty, which led to three consecutive cuts, will go down in history as one of the biggest achievements for the sector and Andrew showed great leadership throughout. I’m sure he will continue to play a major role in supporting beer and pubs in the future and we thank him for his enormous contribution.”

Guild of Beer Writers recognises talent with annual awards Author Pete Brown was named Beer Writer of the Year 2016 at the British Guild of Beer Writers’ annual awards ceremony in December in London.

The Award represents a ‘hat trick’ for Brown, who also took the title in 2012 and 2009. Beer Writer of the Year is the top award in the Guild’s annual competition for writing about beer and pubs, which this year received more than 150 entries across nine categories.

Brown won two categories – for the best writing in trade press and in national media – on his way to the top prize.

The Awards ceremony also saw the Guild’s Brewer of the Year title go to Richard Westwood, MD of Marston’s Brewing Company. Westwood has worked in the brewing industry for 40 years, rising from lab technician at Wolverhampton & Dudley to take the helm at the UK’s largest brewer of cask ales.

Presenting the Award, Guild chairman Tim Hampson said: “Richard is committed to producing classic beers such as Pedigree and Banks’s Mild, while retaining the traditions of the five breweries owned by Marston’s.

In addition, he has encouraged the development of innovative new beers such as the company’s Revisionist and

“THIS WAS TOTALLY UNEXPECTED, BUT VERY WELCOME. I’M DELIGHTED TO BECOME PART OF AN ORGANISATION THAT PROMOTES BEER AND PUBS: TWO GREAT BRITISH INSTITUTIONS THAT I’VE ALWAYS BEEN HAPPY TO SUPPORT.” - DAVE MYERS single hop ranges. He has worked in collaboration with other brewers and is constantly looking for new ways to ensure all beers are served as brewers want them to be served.

Tim Hampson and Dave Myers

“But more than this, Richard cares about beer drinkers. He has empowered consumers by encouraging them to have a greater understanding of the importance of the ingredients of beer.”

One of this year’s judges, Dave Myers of Hairy Bikers fame, was also presented with the Guild’s first ever Honorary Membership.

Myers said: “This was totally unexpected, but very welcome.

I’m delighted to become part of an organisation that promotes beer and pubs: two great British institutions that I’ve always been happy to support.”

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Guild of Beer Writers winners

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SIBA NEWS

Over 350 breweries are now signed up to the 'Assured Independent British Craft Brewers' initiative Over 350 SIBA breweries have now pledged their support for SIBA’s 'Assured Independent British Craft Brewers' initiative, with many already beginning to incorporate the stamp logo into their artwork.

The initiative seeks to highlight beer from genuinely independent craft breweries and was launched at the Great British Beer Festival trade session this August last year in response to increasing competition from big brewers seeking to capitalise on the craft beer boom.

Now that so many SIBA members are on board, and the logo is being used at point of sale, the SIBA HQ team is working with retailers, pub groups, consumers and the wider hospitality sector to grow awareness of the logo and key message of the campaign. This will ensure that drinkers know what to look out for when they choose to buy from an independent craft brewer.

Mike Benner, Managing Director of SIBA, said: “The passion and innovation of independent brewers together with increasing consumer demand for diversity, provenance and excellence has created the craft beer revolution. It is the biggest thing to have happened to British beer for many years and has helped to revitalise the UK beer market and turn it into the most exciting beer scene in the World.

“Hundreds of passionate and genuine independent brewers have brought thousands of world-class beers to communities across the UK. However, as the craft beer market has grown it is being flooded with beers from across the world, often from large global brewers.

We have launched our ‘Assured’ initiative to help consumers make informed decisions about where their beer comes from and who has brewed it.”

SIBA's Manual of Brewing Practice meaning all SIBA full brewing members are eligible.

Pumpclip and label manufacturers, and SIBA Supplier Associate members, Label Apeel and Colorscan, have both been working closely with the SIBA marketing team to help brewers incorporate the logo into their pumpclips or label designs.

Color Scan have also launched pumpclip tabs featuring the assured logo, making it even easier to highlight your beers without altering existing artwork.

To find out more or actively pledge your support, visit indiecraftbrewers.co.uk

In order to qualify for the initiative brewers must be wholly independent of any larger brewing interest, brewing under 200,00hl and agree to abide by

BRECON BREWING, WALES “GIVEN THE AMOUNT OF CONFUSION IN THE MARKET, THIS INITIATIVE IS A WELCOME BOOST TO BRITAIN’S GENUINE INDEPENDENT CRAFT BREWERS – AND WE’RE PROUD TO BE ONE OF THEM!” BUSTER GRANT, OWNER

BILLERICAY BREWING CO., ESSEX THE ASSURED INDEPENDENT BRITISH CRAFT BREWER INITIATIVE WILL ALLOW BEER DRINKERS TO IDENTIFY BEERS CRAFTED BY TRULY INDEPENDENT BREWERIES. THESE BREWERIES ALWAYS HAVE A PASSION TO MAKE THE MOST FLAVOURSOME BEERS POSSIBLE. TREVOR JEFFERY, OWNER/BREWER

GREAT OAKLEY BREWERY, NORTHAMPTONSHIRE PROUD TO BE TOTALLY INDEPENDENT AND DELIGHTED TO BE A PART OF THIS INITIATIVE. PHIL GREENWAY, OWNER

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WAEN BREWERY, WALES IN A MARKET PLACE THAT IS SEEING MANY NEW BREWERIES OPENING EVERY WEEK, IT WILL BE GREAT TO BE PART OF A SCHEME THAT WILL GIVE THE PUBLIC INFORMATION AT A GLANCE TO ENABLE THEM TO MAKE THE RIGHT CHOICE WHEN SEEKING OUT A GOOD, WELL MADE CRAFTED BEER. SUE HAYWARD, DIRECTOR

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MEMBER BENEFITS

MEMBERSHIP BENEFITS REMINDER SIBA offers brewing members a wide range of benefits and will be looking to enhance these over the next 12 months. If there are any membership benefits you would like SIBA to investigate, then please email your ideas to tony.jerome@siba.co.uk

Below is a reminder of just some of SIBA’s current membership benefits:

SIBA’S REGIONAL MEETINGS ATTENDANCES GROWING BETWEEN

40%-100%

Each SIBA region organises four meetings a year. SIBA has invested more resource into supporting Regionals Meetings by restructuring and creating three Regional Executives that offer more regional support. This support has played a key role in attendances growing between 40-100%.

We realise all members are very busy but we are working hard to make Regional Meetings difficult to miss. We are improving the guest speakers, looking into training sessions, updating members on what is happening nationally but more importantly, they give you the chance to network with other brewing members in your area and find out more about what our Supplier Associate members are offering.

REGIONAL EXECUTIVES:

SIOBHAN MCGONIGLE

(Midlands, Wales & West and East) siobhan.mcgonigle@siba.co.uk

JENNA BARNINGHAM

(Scotland, North West & North East) jenna.barningham@siba.co.uk

SIBA’S TOOLBOX SIBA’s Toolbox, the members’ password protected website, offers a range of free tools to help your business including Duty Change Calculator, Due Diligence and Registering Trademarks.

SIBA’S REGIONAL & NATIONAL INDEPENDENT BEER AWARDS

The Toolbox also files the numerous Toolbox alerts that SIBA issues to members on important business matters.

Those that decide to join BeerFlex will also find the orders here.

(South West & South East) cheryl.ford@siba.co.uk

SIBA’s beer competitions have been rebranded ‘SIBA’s Independent Beer Awards’ to help us differentiate our awards from others. SIBA has employed a professional PR & Marketing Manager to help raise the profile of our award winning breweries.

We hope this increased coverage leads to more interest in SIBA members’ beer and increased sales.

LOCH LOMOND BREWERY RECEIVE SIBA’S NATIONAL CASK CHAMPION AWARD FROM BEERX SPONSOR NFU MUTUAL

FREE Legal Helpline 

FREE Brewing Support Online

Unfortunately SIBA members have experienced a variety of different legal issues in the past. To help reduce the burden SIBA has created a relationship with Napthens solicitors who have a wealth of experience in the brewing industry.

SIBA has partnered up with brewing consultants and Supplier Associate ‘The Beer Hub’ to offer free advice to members on brewing. This online service replaces the Brewing Helpline and is being trialled over the next few months, so please give it a go should you require brewing support. All you need to do is visit thebeerhub.co.uk, select the SIBA button and ask your questions!

Free legal advice on 0845 6710277 All SIBA members may access this service by telephone or email and receive one hour’s free advice and thereafter be charged at approved rates.

So just one call to Napthens could save your SIBA membership fee alone!

For advice on any legal issue that is affecting your business please call 0845 6710277

16

CHERYL FORD

SIBA JOURNAL WINTER 2017

thebeerhub.co.uk

MEMBER BENEFITS ISSUE 103 WINTER 2017

ISSUE 103

BANKING ON IT

A BRITISH BEER REVIVAL Roger Protz on our proud heritage

NEW RIVER BREWERY’S FIRST YEAR IN BUSIN ESS BEERX A BRITI THE NEW RIVE SH BEERBIG MEET THE 2017 FIRST YE R BREWERY’S RE INTER VIV VIEW BEERBREW AR IN BU What to expectRog X at er We AL ER SINESS meet Everards’ 20 this year’s eventpro Protz on Matt 17 Clarke on his THE BIG our ud herStephen itage GouldWhat toHawksh IN expectead MEET TH at adventureTERVIEW this year’s We meet event Everards’ BREWERE Stephen Matt

BANKING

Gould

ON IT

Clarke Hawkshead on his adventure

WIN TER

201 7

Relaunched, professionally edited SIBA Journal The SIBA Journal was relaunched in March 2016 to help celebrate the 100th issue. Our members’ quarterly publication has a new look and is now edited by Caroline Nodder, a previous editor of the Publican Newspaper. Caroline is delivering the content our members requested in SIBA’s 2015 Communication Survey.

If you would like to submit any information to Caroline, please email carolinenodder@hotmail.com

LOBBYING ON BEHALF OF MEMBERS Almost 50% of our members feel ‘supporting a trade association that represents independent brewers, achieving a higher profile as a body’ is one of their top three benefits for joining SIBA. SIBA has been lobbying on a number of issues this year including Beer Tax, New Alcohol Guidelines and the Pubs Code, but the most important issue for our members that SIBA needs to protect is Small Breweries’ Relief. 89% said it was ‘very important’ or ‘extremely important’ to their business.

SIBA has many campaigns to tackle over the next 12 months. We would encourage all members to participate in our campaign activity and help us to make a difference.

89%

BELIEVE SMALL BREWERIES’ RELIEF IS VERY IMPORTANT OR EXTREMELY IMPORTANT TO THEIR BUSINESS

JOINT PURCHASES SIBA offers a range of products

at discounted prices. The current discounted products include Bar Runners, Branded Logo Glasses, SIBA Branded Disposable Tumblers and Bag in a Box but our most popular Joint Purchase is Beer Mats:

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It is estimated that SIBA, working with Katz beer mat company, has saved our members more than £100,000 in the last 3 years and approximately £250,000 over the last decade.

Just ordering 10,000 beer mats (which can be 5,000 x 2 designs) saves a SIBA member £239 from Katz non-member price. This saving can mean SIBA membership becomes FREE for brewing members who annually order a small stock of beer mats and brew less than 2,000 HL. For more information please email riponoffice@siba.co.uk

COMMERCIAL SERVICES ON OFFER TO SIBA MEMBERS:

SIBA also offers members a selection of benefits that may not be the cheapest on the market but they do offer members trust, due to SIBA backing these offers and creating long-term relationships with suppliers.

BREWERY VIDEO SERVICE The SIBA Film Unit produces videos and still images for SIBA nationally and offers discounted rates for members. If you are looking to produce a film for your website, social media, press or publicity purposes then typically a full days shoot and a completed two minute video would cost £750 inc VAT.

SIBACLOUD ECOMMERCE (WEB SHOP) FACILITY An affordable ‘Online Shop’ service exclusively available to SIBA members. We handle all of the technology and administrative issues with an online shop, you concentrate in making and selling beer!

SIBACLOUD OFFICE FACILITY

MOBILE CELLARS

The SIBA Cloud enables businesses to work remotely from anywhere in the world.

All that is required is internet access and a laptop or desktop computer and you can connect remotely to your brewery office system – with secure access to all files, records, programs and systems.

SIBA has three 40ft mobile cask / keg beer cellars for hire at a very competitive rate to SIBA members. Each cellar holds 100 firkins and 20 kegs – perfect for larger events you may be supporting!

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SIBA JOURNAL WINTER 2017

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MEET THE BREWER

MATT CLARKE Hawkshead Brewery

New Zealander Matt Clarke unexpectedly fell in love with the brewing industry during a travelling holiday around the UK, after taking work in a pub in the Lake District which was supplied by Hawkshead Brewery. With no previous experience in brewing he has worked his way up from the bottom of the business to eventually take over the Head Brewer role from owner Alex Brodie, all within the same Cumbrian brewery that first caught his eye back in 2006. Caroline Nodder spoke to him about his journey and some of the things that have inspired him along the way…..

BREWERS’ CV:

Matt Clarke,

Head Brewer,

Hawkshead Brewery, Staveley, Cumbria 2006 Brewer’s Assistant – Hawksh

Brewery

ead

2006-2010 Training in-house with owner Alex Brodie and brewin g consultant David Smith and studying for IBD Diploma 2010 Brewery Manager, Hawkshead Brewery

2012-present Head Brewer, Haw kshead

Brewery

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SIBA JOURNAL WINTER 2017

19

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MEET THE BREWER

Matt Clarke was heading for a desk-bound career in New Zealand after starting his studies in business computing, but his life took a very different turn when he fell in love with the emerging UK brewing scene during a working holiday here in 2006.

“I took a break from study in New Zealand and came travelling to the UK, and during my journey through the Lakes I ended up working at a bar in Hawkshead itself called the Kings Arms,” he explains. “Alex Brodie, who owns Hawkshead, used to sell beer to the pub and I got talking to him one day and offered my services if he needed anyone to wash barrels or just do any general work at the brewery site. He offered me a job, just as a general brewery assistant, and I effectively never left, and never returned home to New Zealand! It was my first and only job in the brewing industry, and I’ve continued and built my career at Hawkshead.

“I found the brewing and pub culture in the UK inspiring – at that point the New Zealand beer industry was small and controlled by a few main players – and coming over here I found cask beer growing and that was a real eye opener for me.”

Matt started off at the very bottom, and did all his initial training in-house with Alex and David Smith, who was Hawkshead’s brewing consultant at the time. The defining moment for him was in his second or third week into the job when they were looking at a new hop for Brodie’s Prime, a porter, and had five or six varieties on the counter to choose from.

“I didn’t know a great deal about different hop varieties, being comparatively new, but trying those samples it suddenly just clicked and felt so right.”

It may have been a case of being in exactly the right place at the right time, as over the next few years Matt was being trained up and the brewery was expanding, making the jump to a new site, with a new plant.

And he subsequently went on to study with the Institute of Brewing and Distilling for his Diploma.

“WE HAVE EVOLVED A TAGLINE AT HAWKSHEAD WHICH IS ‘BEER MADE BY PEOPLE WHO LOVE BEER FOR PEOPLE WHO LOVE BEER’”.

“One of the proudest moments for me was Alex handing over the Head Brewer’s role to me, in around 2012, it was a key achievement to work from the bottom up.

And the team that has evolved over the years is a very long-standing team, and that’s an achievement in itself, finding and keeping a good workforce of people who actually love what they do and love the beer they produce is a great part of the business and defines what we do.”

The brewery has enjoyed huge success since then, in no small part thanks to Matt’s hard work and constant eye for innovation. They have won numerous awards for their beers including three medals at Champion Beer of Britain last year after being finalists for the three previous years.

Matt says of the ethos behind the beers: “We have evolved a tagline at Hawkshead which is ‘beer made by people who love beer for people who love beer’. That pretty much sums up the ethos behind Hawkshead. We

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are a passionate team, we love what we brew, and we are in a place in Cumbria that is a very tourism and outdoors-led customer base so we produce all manner of styles here – we have a core range that can fulfill everything from the traditional cask bitter, nice low gravity pale hoppy beers, to high ABV American style IPAs to beers that taste like Key Lime Pie! Where we are based has a lot to do with our ethos, we have the outdoors tourists swaying towards the less challenging styles, but we also have direct delivery to Manchester, Liverpool, all the cities, so we have two sides to what we do – we have that other side with our kegs beers going off to the cities and more of the higher ABV beers and stouts etc.”

The brewery has a 20bbl kit and 220 barrel fermentation capacity, and is brewing between 8 and 10 times a week, producing about 200 barrels.

Of this production approximately 80% is cask, 15% bottle and 5% keg. “Our heart still lies in cask beer,” says Matt. “It’s still one of the most unique and best experiences in beer in the UK – although it can also be one of the worst of course! It is one of the things that’s kept me on my toes and still excites me hugely in brewing. Everything we do we try to do well and consistently and with repeatability. Consistency is a huge thing for me, I want people to have the same experience time and time again with the same product, and to maintain that.”

With the rise in the number of breweries now operating in the UK market – in Cumbria alone there are now around 40 – Matt relishes the challenge to constantly try and improve the range and quality of the beers he produces.

Continued on page 23 SIBA JOURNAL WINTER 2017

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“Alex has invested a lot back into Hawkshead as we have grown and he is very keen on the quality and consistency and maintaining that integrity year on year.

“The rise of social media has brought a different level of contact with the consumer, the drinker, being able to reach out with this free form of advertising.”

“Education along the way is also important – investing time with our outlets and looking after them with cellaring etc is very important. One of the biggest challenges is the turnover of staff through bars and pubs and we try to offer all our customers access to the brewery so we can teach them more about cellaring and the finer points they might need to brush up on to ensure our beer reaches the customer in the best quality it can.”

There have also been new developments in packaging, and Hawkshead recently launched two new beers directly into can for the first time.

To this end, Hawkshead has tried wherever it can to use direct delivery to its customers rather than going down the wholesaler route, and Matt himself makes sure he keeps his eye in by brewing hands-on himself twice or three times a week. He keeps a constant eye on the rapidly changing market as well.

“In 2006 there were something like 400 independent brewers but at last count we could be up to as many as 1,400 – the rise in the last three to four years has just been phenomenal with start-ups and new builds entering the market. With that growth the change in people’s tastes and the opportunity the customer has presented us with to innovate has really pushed the boundaries with new styles and flavours,” he adds. “Once upon a time people were looking to the USA for these different styles and flavours but now the UK is alive and booming and we are doing things just as well if not better. It really is exciting times – but challenging too.

You can’t be complacent in this market especially with the level of investment going in to some of the start-ups – people are going in with serious high capacity from the start and very good branding.”

He also points to the rise in technology, and in particular social media, as being instrumental in shaping the growth in the sector.

“ONCE UPON A TIME PEOPLE WERE LOOKING TO THE USA FOR THESE DIFFERENT STYLES AND FLAVOURS BUT NOW THE UK IS ALIVE AND BOOMING AND WE ARE DOING THINGS JUST AS WELL IF NOT BETTER.” “Canning is very on trend at the moment, it is a fast growth area of the market. Cans have always been a very good way of preserving, so I think it goes hand in hand with some of the hoppier styles that are produced now. Canning is one of the best ways to preserve the hop character and flavour and stability of the beer – the can protects the beer from light, has very low dissolved oxygen, which helps the stability.

They are very lightweight and from a point-of-sale view the can is a blank canvass so you can really go to town on the design. It’s come with the flexibility of mobile canners so even very small brewers are able to bring the canning line in-house to the brewery and package on site, with no big investment.

“It was a natural direction for us, as we have always been right in the thick of what’s going on in the market if not ahead.

We launched ITI, our session New Zealand pale ale, into cans which really maintained the freshness of the hop in a low ABV quite delicate beer. Then on the other side we have produced a 7% American IPA in can which is also maximising the preservation of the hop aromas and characteristics.”

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Matt’s current focus, as well as absorbing the trends which are shaping the beer sector as a whole, is the capacity challenge he is facing at the Hawkshead site.

“We have effectively exhausted what we can do on the current site – the building has its limits and the site is full, so the next step is looking at whether we make the move to a new site maybe close to where we are. We have already undergone investment at the start of 2016 which took us to the end of what was possible here.

We installed a new conditioning room which gave us the ability to remove our existing fermentation room and extended the space to allow two new fermenters in there. We re-laid floors and hygienically cladded all the walls and we also added our own in-house lab facilities. That was part of a two year growth plan to take us through to 2018, but we are already fast fulfilling that growth plan! So the question for us is with volumes growing how do we answer that issue of space in the future?”

He is also, along with most brewers in his position, facing the current issues with hop supply that has seen a worldwide shortage of some varieties in recent times.

“I have always had my supply contracted two years or so in advance, but that doesn’t always mean I get the hops. It is hard to predict in advance the exact quantities you might require two years out and the trends change so often as well.

Although reports are that there has been a record crop from the US in 2016 so you never know we might all be bathing in hops this time next year!”

So what of the current brewing trends in the UK market? Matt says the wave of barrel-aged projects and wild fermented beers is one area he finds exciting and inspiring.

“One of the biggest trends we are starting to see is more interest in barrel-aged beers, and wild fermented beers, which has always been a strong part of Belgian

Continued on page 25 SIBA JOURNAL WINTER 2017

23

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MEET THE BREWER

brewing. That excites me, because I like the science and magic behind the production of these beers. We have the likes of the Wild Beer Co in Somerset now that are predominantly producing wild fermented beers and Beavertown who have just expanded their barrel-aged project and are growing it rapidly. And Thornbridge have even achieved gold medals in the American brewing awards for their sour beers which was unheard of years ago – a UK brewer winning for something at those award which have been pretty much sown up by US brewers is amazing. It’s something I would really like to push forward – I do play around with it a bit, but there is a risk with crosscontamination, so it’s great that other people out there are bringing a new level of education to this.”

Matt’s knowledge of what other brewers in the market are currently working on comes from what he describes as the ‘super collaborative’ nature of the industry he loves, and he credits his chosen career to being inspired by what some of the ground-breaking smaller brewers were producing when he first started at Hawkshead.

“The likes of Thornbridge and Marble Brewery, in Manchester, were very early forerunners in the evolution of brewing.

Thornbridge’s Jaipur I had many years ago in 2008 or so and trying it really opened my eyes to what was going on.

And Marble came along to a SIBA beer competition we hosted at Hawkshead, and I remember tapping one of their casks that had Marble Pint in it and being showered in beer and hops as they’d obviously dry-hopped the cask. This beer was low ABV, maybe 3.7%, but it had so much flavour and aroma in there and I hadn’t experienced that before.”

He also namechecks Shrewsbury’s Salopian Brewery for its consistent quality in cask and Buxton Brewery as well for their level of innovation. “They’ve produced over 50 new beers just in 2016 alone and the quality is always top,” he adds. “Magic Rock also burst onto the scene with some amazing design - they were one of the first people to use cutting edge social media and brand design and I admire them for what they have done using that new technology.”

Collaborating with other brewers and sharing experiences has always been a great inspiration to Matt during his time at Hawkshead, and is, he says, how he gets many of his new ideas for beers.

“I am involved with a project each year called the Rainbow Project, which is based around seven brewers being involved in the UK and the seven colours of the rainbow – so the likes of Magic Rock, Beavertown and a few others are involved. We pick a different country each year and pick seven brewers there

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to get involved and draw out the colours of the rainbow. This year it was New Zealand so we picked out of a hat a UK brewer, a collaborative NZ brewer and then a colour and each pairing has to brew a collaborative beer inspired by the colour. We don’t necessarily know all the international brewers so we then strike up a relationship and begin the whole process of swapping ideas and finding out what they are up to over there and then we have a festival launch for the beers.”

For the third year in a row, Matt selected green as his colour inspiration, so hot on the heels of 2015’s US partnership on a Key Lime Pie beer, Hawkshead produced a 2016 beer inspired by the green of the oceans around NZ - a seafood gose, infused with mussels and oysters and balanced with gooseberries.

The passion Matt has for this type of innovation and the advancement of knowledge that comes with international collaborations like this is palpable, as he speaks at length about the project and about the opportunities there are for brewers like him is this rapidly growing market.

“As a brewer you never stop learning – I’d never want to stop learning,” he smiles.

Although if he picks green in the Rainbow Project for a fourth year in a row, he does confess he might be tempted to “give up on it all”. Fingers crossed he doesn’t……

SIBA JOURNAL WINTER 2017

25

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GUEST COLUMNIST

A BRITISH BEER BACK FROM THE DEAD Our guest columnist for this issue is one of the best known and most respected beer writers of his generation - Roger Protz. Here, he shares his hopes for recognition for the sector he loves….

If you love beer it’s a racing certainty you adore the beers of Belgium. The range is staggering and includes ales brewed by Trappist monks, “wild fermentation” lambics, spiced wheat beers, sour red ales and dozens more that could fill my allotted space.

The sheer diversity of Belgium’s bibulous store house was acknowledged in December when UNESCO declared the country’s beer culture to be “a treasure of humanity”.

Without waving the Union flag, perhaps the good people at UNESCO might take a look at Britain’s contribution to beer culture and history, too. We have a lot to offer. At the beginning of the 18th century, London brewers developed a beer that took on the nickname of porter as a result of its popularity with the small army of porters working the streets, markets and docks of the capital. The strongest version was called stout porter, later reduced to just stout.

The demand was so insatiable that it outstripped the ability of small brewers, mainly publicans, to produce sufficient quantities. Bigger commercial enterprises, such as Sam Whitbread’s, using the new technologies of the industrial revolution, rushed to fill the gap. As a result, porter and stout created the first major commercial brewing industry in the world.

A century later pale ale and India Pale Ale burst on the scene. Again the industrial

revolution was the driving force. The production of coke on a large scale meant malt could be kilned over a new type of fire. Previously, wood had been used and the result was brown malt. But coke enabled brewers to use lighter coloured malt and the result was the first pale beers brewed anywhere in the world.

“IPA DISAPPEARED BELOW THE RADAR FOR MOST OF THE 20TH CENTURY BUT IS NOW THE BUZZ BEER OF THE MOMENT.” At that time lager beers in central Europe were dark, as a result of using woodcured malt. Brewers from Munich and Vienna hurried to Burton-on-Trent to see how pale beer was made and returned home to fashion golden lagers. In Pilsen in Bohemia, now the Czech Republic, the Pilsner Urquell brewery – the name means Original Pilsner - imported a malt kiln from England to create their beer.

IPA disappeared below the radar for most of the 20th century but is now the buzz beer of the moment. Scores of brewers in the United States and the UK are making modern interpretations of the style, zinging with wonderful aromatic hop aromas and flavours.

The style has spread its wings. I have encountered IPAs in Australia and New Zealand, not surprising given the links with the Old Country. But would you expect to find them in France, Italy, Japan, Poland

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and Russia? The answer is a resounding Yes. A great British beer is back from the dead and entrancing drinkers in just about every beer-making country in the world.

The inspiration for IPA came from even older British beer styles, such as October Beers and Audit Ales. These were beers made from the first malts and hops of the autumn harvest and then aged in oak for months and even years. Audit Ales date back to the 14th century and were consumed at dinners in colleges in Cambridge and Oxford to celebrate the annual audit of the accounts.

Last October, I joined Keith Bott of Titanic Brewery at the White Horse Brewery in Oxfordshire, in which Titanic has a stake, to brew our version of the style.

It was not a complex beer: pale and crystal malts and Fuggles and Goldings hops, with a finished strength of 7.2%. It’s now quietly ageing in wood and will be unveiled in Oxford in April, audit time.

Perhaps someone from UNESCO would care to join us.

Roger Protz is one of the world's leading beer writers, historians, lecturers and tasters. He is the author of more than 20 books on the subject, including 300 Beers to Try Before You Die, one of the biggest-selling books of its kind. He has edited more than 20 editions of the annual CAMRA Good Beer Guide, was named Glenfiddich Drink Writer of the Year in 1997 and 2004 and in 2003 was presented with the first-ever Lifetime Achievement Award from the British Guild of Beer Writers. He has won two Gold and six Silver Tankard awards from the Guild and 13 awards from the North American Guild of Beer Writers.

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BIG INTERVIEW

THE

BIG

INTERVIEW

STEPHEN GOULD, MANAGING DIRECTOR, EVERARDS BREWERY 28

SIBA JOURNAL WINTER 2017

A well-known face within the brewing sector, and a respected voice in the industry, Stephen Gould started his career with two of the largest national operators in the market but has embraced the family culture and history attached to his latest role with Leicestershire family brewer Everards, and built on those values to create an innovative operation which reflects the diversity of the UK brewing market. He has launched several innovations for the brewery including Project William, which has seen Everards support smaller brewers by joining forces to turn around struggling pub sites and create a destination for beer lovers offering a wide range of beers to reflect current consumer demand. This emphasis on ‘local’ also led to Project Artisan which supports local artisan food and drink suppliers such as bakers and butchers by giving them a route to market through Everards pubs. He is also currently overseeing a site move for the brewer into an innovative newbuild complex with top eco credentials and even a cycling centre. SIBA Journal’s Caroline Nodder caught up with him to find out more…..

BIG INTERVIEW How did you come to join Everards, and what is your background in the sector?

There is a lot going on within Everards at the moment, can you tell us a bit about your future plans for the business?

I joined Everards in 2003 having previously worked for Bass and Punch Taverns in HR, Operations and Franchise development roles.

Last Summer we completely re-branded our company branding along with our beers. All have been very well received by our customers with sales of our own beers, to our business owners, being 4% ahead of the prior year, six months following the launch.

What is the ethos behind the Everards business?

Our ethos is built and sustained by being an independent family business since 1849. Our Chairman, Richard Everard, represents the fifth generation of the family to lead the business. Richard’s daughter, Charlotte, has recently joined the Board of Directors.

How do you see your role within Everards and what key changes have you made since joining the business?

My role is about supporting the Everards Family and ensuring that their values and aspirations are alive and well within the company. In addition, I have a responsibility with my team to ensure we have a very clear sense of purpose in all that we do – for our business owners, customers, suppliers and advisors. Our purpose is focused on building relationships with business owners and communities – this is my core responsibility.

We have also been preparing for our future at a new location called Everards Meadows – a state-of-the-art food and drink cluster which will include a new Everards Brewery, shop and offices, plus a pub, restaurants and cycling centre. We aim to be up and running at our new home in Spring 2018.

In addition, we will continue to acquire new pubs, to invest in our beer brands and innovate in all areas of the business.

How do you stay ahead of your competitors?

“ALL OF OUR WORK IS ANCHORED TO STRENGTHENING A FAMILY BUSINESS FOR THIS GENERATION AND SUCCESSIVE GENERATIONS.”

Working with the team at Everards, I think we have created a more focused business with a desire to keep innovating. For example, operating all of our pub estate through a tenanted model (our business is really driven by lots of relationships with independent business owners); selling our low margin free trade business; innovating within the tenanted model through Projects William and Artisan; creating clear plans to change our brewing strategy and structure.

All of our work is anchored to strengthening a family business for this generation and successive generations, the foundation of which is the ownership and development of freehold property.

Everards is one of the larger breweries among the SIBA membership, how do you see your relationship with the growing number of smaller brewers entering the market?

I’m not sure we “stay ahead” but we certainly look to compete by attracting and retaining great employees who enjoy delivering our purpose and building first class relationships with business owners and our communities.

What do you see as the key challenges facing UK brewers like yourself at the moment?

The cumulative and compound effect of tax and regulation on our business and the businesses we work with is a concern. To a Politician or policy maker, an individual taxation decision may make sense as a single item but I never read about a total impact analysis mindset taken when tax and regulation is proposed.

Items like 20% VAT and punitive business rates directly affect the development of all businesses, particularly small ones, restricting growth and job creation.

Continued on page 31

I hope our relationship with smaller brewers (a term I’m not a fan of – I prefer first generation family brewers!) is strong. We promote lots of these brewers’ beers in our pub estate, as variety is so important to our customers. Also our work with many brewers through our Project William innovation has helped them to create their own pub estates and showcase their beers to customers in their communities.

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BIG INTERVIEW

What are your views on the current economic and political climate and the impact it will have on your business and the UK sector as a whole?

Well, it’s uncertain and all I know is customers don’t like uncertainty. So we need to try our very best to continually offer our business owners the finest support and help them to deliver a fantastic experience for their customers. Everything else in the macro environment will take its course, but it’s so important we concentrate on what we can influence.

There is a growing export market for UK beers, how is Everards exploiting this?

We do export some of our beers, but we are mainly focused on our UK beer business.

How do you see the UK brewing sector developing over the next five to 10 years?

I see more new brewers continuing to come into the market.

At the same time, I would forecast more consolidation activity; mergers and acquisitions as certain areas of the country will perhaps have an over capacity of brewers. The larger players in the brewing market will continue to organically innovate, but also acquire innovative brands e.g. the recent acquisitions of Meantime and Camden.

Could the government be doing more to support UK brewers?

Yes. The taxation structure for the brewery sector needs a mature and objective review with goals which look to encourage growth in investment, innovation and jobs.

There has been a resurgence in the popularity of beer among UK consumers, why do you think this is and do you see it continuing to grow as a sector?

Yes, it’s great to see. I think it’s being driven by the whole brewing community. The emerging first generation brewers are creating stories and interest at a local level. Also credit is due to the very large brewers who have invested in the “There’s A Beer For That” initiative which celebrates beer as a category. I see the category continuing to grow due to diversity and innovation underpinned by beer (as a comparatively low alcohol product) dovetailing very well with responsible drinking initiatives.

How do you find and keep great people to work in your business?

Over the years we have tended to attract people to Everards who like our purpose, values and family ethos, along with a commitment to keep innovating. Basically, talented people who are drawn to a “Tradition with Ambition” agenda. Retaining talented people is about ensuring that everyone has a fulfilling and enjoyable job, a line manager who is a good coach and motivator, competitive remuneration and benefits and opportunities to progress within the company.

What, to you, makes a great beer?

A balanced flavour, consistency and one that you would happily drink more than one of with friends down the pub.

Continued on page 33

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“I WAS REALLY PROUD AND PRIVILEGED (STILL AM) TO BE OFFERED THE ROLE OF MANAGING DIRECTOR AT EVERARDS. A COMPANY WITH SUCH A WONDERFUL HISTORY, LED BY A FAMILY WHO THINK IN THE LONG TERM.” Are there any current brewing trends that excite you?

It’s good to see the resurgence of home brewing – perhaps a Great British Brew Off in the future? Also, it’s encouraging to see the emergence of online beer sales and conversation portals like Beerbods.

What’s new at Everards for 2017?

To keep investing in our beer brands. To start building Everards Meadows and sell our current site for retail development. And to invest in our pubs and buy some more, as well as focusing on further innovation in supply and services with our business owners.

Where do you get your ideas and inspiration from?

Lots of different sources, but certainly colleagues in Everards and friends in the industry would be high on the list. Also, I enjoy reading about trends and initiatives outside of our industry as a source of inspiration. Last, but not least, my children are a constant source of critique and “inspiration”!

What are you proudest of in your own career?

I was really proud and privileged (still am) to be offered the role of Managing Director at Everards. A company with such a wonderful history, led by a family who think in the long term.

What advice would you give to new brewers in today’s market?

Have a very clear sense of purpose. Invest in creating brands, not just local drinks. Ensure someone in the team is very good at managing cash. And don’t try to be all things to all people.

If you could drink any beer anywhere in the world what would it be and where?

An Everards Sunchaser Golden Ale at the Sunset Beach Hotel on the Seychelles – perfect!

Who do you most admire in the brewing sector and why?

Keith Bott at Titanic Brewery. Keith and I have worked together for years. He runs a great business and has always contributed so much to the industry. A gentleman and a good friend.

What do you do to relax?

Spending time with my family with lots of sports matches to watch at the weekend. Supporting the mighty Liverpool (sadly more on TV than at Anfield). Vanishing off to a cosy pub with my wife for a drink. I also really enjoy a round of golf, but would, like most people, prefer to play more often!

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HDC - UPDATE ON SIBA DELIVERY SCHEME

SIBA LAUNCHES A NEW ROUTE

TO MARKET WITH THE HDC

SIBA’s original Direct Delivery Scheme (DDS) has evolved more recently into the Beerflex scheme, which enables SIBA’s brewing members to reach retailers outside their core local market. Now, SIBA has unveiled a new Stockholding Delivery Centre (HDC), which is aimed at easing the pressure on its brewing members’ stockholding capacity, while also minimising the number of deliveries going out of both breweries and retail warehouses with mixed pallets being held at the HDC. It is also aimed at opening up more routes to market for breweries wanting to reach new export markets and larger pub company and supermarket chains. Caroline Nodder caught up with SIBA Operations Director, and the owner of Hambleton Ales, Nick Stafford to find out more….

Delivering mixed pallets on single truck to all customers

SIBA HQ handles all invoicing and billing to brewer and customer

Delivery to be stored at HDC freeing up brewery storage

SIBA BREWING MEMBER

SIBA HQ

CUSTOMERS RETAILERS AND SUPERMARKETS

SIBA HDC

EXPORT MARKETS

LARGE BREWERS/ WHOLESALERS

PUBCOs Cask/Keg returns and items ordered from SIBA Supplier Associate delivered on one truck

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SIBA JOURNAL WINTER 2017

SIBA SUPPLIER ASSOCIATE MEMBER

Products can be stored in HDC for delivery to brewing members

HDC - UPDATE ON SIBA DELIVERY SCHEME

“IT IS REALLY ALL ABOUT CONSOLIDATING DELIVERIES AND ENHANCING THE ROUTES TO MARKET FOR SIBA MEMBERS.”

The initiative for which SIBA is probably best known within the world of brewing is its Beerflex scheme, which allows small brewers to deliver their beers to retail sites outside their immediate geographical area and also to reach larger pub company chains and supermarkets.

It is something that Operations Director Nick Stafford has spent a lot of his time within SIBA developing over the past few years and a reason many members originally choose to sign up to SIBA. But as ever, the challenges of distribution are evolving almost as quickly as the brewing sector itself is growing, so the last six months have seen Stafford trial a new SIBA initiative through his own brewery, Hambleton Ales, which he hopes will improve efficiency for both SIBA’s brewing members and the retailers, wholesalers and export markets they supply to.

The new SIBA StockHolding Delivery Centre (HDC) provides warehousing for pallets of beer from breweries in advance of filling orders to customers ranging from retailers to wholesalers and even specific export markets. SIBA has become an HMRC registered licensed wholesaler and partnered with a third party stockholding specialist, which minimises the cost of stockholding by using up on an ad hoc basis the vacant space in existing warehouses.

One of the key issues for many small breweries wanting to fulfill orders, especially for larger retailers, is that their on-site brewery warehousing is limited so stockpiling for orders is impossible. The new HDC can take pallet deliveries and store them away from the brewery pending the onward delivery to the customer, ensuring the brewery is able to continue production unimpeded.

The system also means that brewers are able to clear all their stock destined for all

markets on one truck, rather than having to load and send it out on several different vehicles, because SIBA can follow the brewer’s instructions to deliver and invoice on their behalf.

As with the BeerFlex scheme, all billing is handled by the trusted team at SIBA HQ, with the prices either agreed between the brewer and the purchaser they are supplying to (in the case of directly negotiated supply deals) or by SIBA and the purchaser (in the case of supply deals SIBA has negotiated). SIBA takes a small fee for handling the transaction and arranging the stock-holding facility through the HDC. Each fee is commensurate with the work involved.

The HDC also has the capacity to work in reverse as well when the brewer requires draught containers (casks and kegs) to be returned, with the incoming vehicle collecting stock from a brewery for the HDC also able to deliver products from, say, a SIBA Supplier Associate Member, that the brewery has ordered. Thus the number of both incoming and outgoing deliveries to the brewery site is minimised – which gives the HDC eco credentials too.

Stafford already has two large supermarket chains seriously considering on the HDC initiative in order to expand their craft beer ranges, as well as wholesalers and larger pub companies, who see the benefit in cutting the number of deliveries they need to handle by receiving mixed-pallets (“picked and mixed” by the SIBA HDC) on one vehicle.

SIBA is also in contact with some key export partners which, it is hoped, will see the scheme become a route into new international markets for SIBA members as well.

Stafford explained: “It is really all about consolidating deliveries and enhancing the routes to market for SIBA members.

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We tested it with Hambleton Ales using our Gluten Free Ale and Nightmare Stout which we sent out to Booths Supermarket and Enterprise Inns and the system has been working well for us. It frees up space for us at the brewery, and with mixed pallets being used it means we need fewer collections and deliveries.”

Stock for common sales is sent by brewers to the HDC, orders are placed by the purchaser and collected or delivered on one SKY/mixed pallets from the HDC on one vehicle, before SIBA arranges payment to each of the brewers who have supplied the stock. Any unused, out-of-date stock (in the case of draught products, especially cask ale of course) is returned to the brewery of origin still within useable timescales.

An online catalogue will enable customers to see what is in stock and available for order through the HDC, and delivery times will be much quicker since the stock will already be held at the HDC, so category managers within the larger retail chains can be more responsive to sales.

With more supermarkets and larger pub and restaurant chains now keen to enhance their craft beer offering it is hoped the HDC will offer a one-stop-shop for those customers looking to buy from a range of SIBA member breweries but wanting to avoid multiple small batch deliveries coming in and out of their warehouse.

The HDC is already up and running and open for business – so are you a brewer, retailer, supplier to beer producers or wholesaler needing a solution to develop your business?

For more information about the HDC and how you can get involved come along to BeerX 2017 or email Riponoffice@siba.co.uk.

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BUSINESS PROFILE Having profiled some of the sector’s best known, and well established, breweries for this Business Profile feature in the 2016 issues of the SIBA Journal, this first issue of 2017 takes us back to the very beginning of the brewing story with a profile on one of the newest brewers to enter the market – New River Brewery. New doesn’t by any means mean small, though, and the founders Jeremy Alter and John Bourdeaux have certainly hit the ground running with a new build 10bbl plant and ambitious plans to grow the business from the very start. Their backgrounds in the City have meant the pair have a very clear vision of the financial and strategic goals they need to hit to succeed, as well as an obvious passion for the beers they brew. But neither took the project lightly, putting themselves through some intensive hands-on and formal training in brewing before making the leap out on their own. So how did all this come about? SIBA Journal’s Caroline Nodder went to find out…..

BANKING

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BREWERY BASICS

BUSINESS PROFILE

NAME: New River Brewery FOUNDED: April 2015 LOCATION: Hoddesdon, Hertfordshire OWNED: Joint venture between founders Jeremy Alter and John Bourdeaux CAPACITY: 10bbl BREWING TEAM: Founders are hands-on brewers STAFF: 2 key staff – sales/marketing and apprentice KEY BEERS: London Tap (3.8%), Riverbed Red (4.2%), Five Inch Drop (4.6%) and Blind Poet (4.5%) PRODUCTION: 100% cask (plans for bottling and kegging in early 2017) EXPORT MARKETS: No plans for export

ON IT Tell me a bit about the background to the business and how it has grown and progressed since its launch.

JB: It’s been an interesting journey because both Jeremy and I worked in the City before moving into brewing - like a lot of people who have done this. For example, Andy Moffat from Redemption is another example of someone who has moved from banking into brewing. I did accountancy for 28 years, I worked for PWC and I was the victim of a restructuring in the downturn of 2013.

JA: And I worked at Merrill Lynch as an equity trader. I took a redundancy around the same time as John – I had decided I’d had enough of the City at that point and was looking at alternatives, and I knew John through his brother-in-law, who is one of my best friends. We were having a general chat and John mentioned his idea of going into the brewing trade and six months later we were in business together!

JB: One of the things that struck me when I was preparing the business plan for New River and going through the first year of trade was that it is an industry where profit margins are not that high. Certainly not in the first few years. And I think it is quite easy for people to move into brewing not knowing that they need to keep a really close eye on their finances right from the outset.

So our background certainly helped when we were getting plans together for the business. I grew up in Manchester at 17 or 18 drinking a traditional pint of Boddington’s which in those days was a great cask ale from the Strangeways Brewery and I have hankered after something similar all my life. I’ve always been a follower of cask ales and also a home brewer, like many people.

So when I left my previous job I initially had the idea to act as an advisor to perhaps a bank looking to invest in a brewery, because I thought the sector was very interesting. But I struggled to find a bank that was interested in investing, they said they couldn’t see an exit route for a business like that. But in fact soon after that you saw Meantime being sold, you saw Camden being sold, and now I think the situation would be very different as the value achieved out of those deals was remarkably high. So what came out of it for me was if banks were not prepared to do it maybe I could give it a go! That’s what inspired me to put together a business plan and do a lot more research.

JA: From my perspective, I’ll admit I am actually a reformed lager drinker! I found cask more recently, so I suppose I am proof of the craft revolution really, and how it has converted so many lager drinkers. I have never looked back!

JB: So we came to this fairly cold, but being cautious people we did do a lot of training and research as well. We went to Brew Lab and were educated there, and we also volunteered to work at a local brewpub, the Black Horse in Barnet. There is a great guy there called Tim Longman, who is brewing great beer, and we helped him brew a couple of barrels every two weeks or so at the pub for about three months. That gave us the confidence that we could actually do it on a larger scale. It is hard for people to make that leap from a home brew kit to a 10bbl kit and the way we did that was to help someone else out voluntarily rather than investing in a 2bbl kit and having to then take the step up to 10bbl. We also used a brewery consultant – an established brewer - who gave us some initial help with using our kit when it was installed.

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Continued on page 41

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BEERS

•

CLOSURES

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•

SPIRITS

•

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SUPPORTING BREWERS, ROUND AFTER ROUND

COLLABORATION

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DESIGN

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BUSINESS PROFILE

Where are you currently investing/growing?

JB: We see the opportunities as being really quite large, and one of the most important things is not being distracted by too many of the things you could do if you wanted to and retain a focus.

I think ours is on trying to make the optimum use of our very expensive brewery kit. In the next three to five years we’d like to achieve a volume of production that makes our operation efficient.

At the moment we are brewing once a week, maybe twice, so during the rest of the time the kit is not utilised. And one of the key things is to achieve the volume to enable us to make a profit.

How would you describe your beer range and brewing ethos?

On the sales side our strategy is very much based around our ethos, which is to remain local, to focus on producing really high quality beer, and to provide a really good standard of service to our customers because we know service levels are really important to publicans and club owners and restaurants.

“OUR RANGE IS GENERALLY LOW ABV, SO OUR ETHOS IS SLIGHTLY DIFFERENT TO SOME OF THE HIPSTERS IN CENTRAL LONDON WHO ARE BREWING AT 7%, AND WE ARE TRYING TO KEEP IT AT A LEVEL OF LESS THAN 5%.”

In terms of the products, we are very happy with our product range in cask – four core beers and a range of four seasonals – so to achieve the volumes we need we are going to have to move into new forms of dispense - kegging and bottling - so we can tap into the range of local restaurants and hotels that don’t have hand pumps. And bottling will give us access to the retail market – smaller retailers mainly, given local is our fundamental goal, but we wouldn’t say no to national retailers if they wanted to supply our beers into the local stores.

Our range is generally low ABV, so our ethos is slightly different to some of the hipsters in central London who are brewing at 7%, and we are trying to keep it at a level of less than 5%.

We are using our own bottom fermenting wet yeast so we have gone into an area that some start-ups wouldn’t have started out with – main use dried yeast. We are trying to get the character into the beer from that wet product, and although we are using traditional brewing methods we are buying products from around the globe – so hops from New Zealand and some specialist hops from Germany – and trying to create a style of beer that is a bit different and much more distinctive that some of the mass market products that are available, with more flavour, fundamentally, but not a massively high alcohol content.

Continued on page 43

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BUSINESS PROFILE

As a fairly new brewery how have you tackled routes to market?

JB: We have bought a system that enables us to document all the pubs in our local area - it gives us a database that helps us target customers. Currently we have about 1,000 targets, mainly pubs, some sports clubs, and we have probably sold beer to something approaching 200 of those. We joined the SIBA BeerFlex scheme within four months of trade, we got our FSQ audit and approval done, so we were quite quick to get into that, but that is because we started with a comparatively large capacity.

If you are starting with a 2bbl or 5bbl kit then you might not join the SIBA scheme for some time as you’ll be selling all your beer direct to a few local pubs, but we found with a 10bbl kit we benefitted greatly from joining SIBA early on because it enabled us to access some of the pubs that otherwise wouldn’t have been accessible to us. We deliver direct to about a 30 mile radius although in London we don’t really go south of the river, it is mainly the north and the east.

Do you see any barriers to your growth and if so how are you approaching these?

JB: One of our main barriers is an internal not external one. We have resource constraints internally. If we wanted to do a lot more we could do if we had enough people. But it is always dangerous to grow too fast, so we are trying to achieve controlled growth. That means not hiring too many people too fast. But it’s fair to say if we’d hired our apprentice a few months ago that wouldn’t have been a bad thing (Ed - they took on apprentice Kyle

Hall recently through a local college).

How have you got your brand message out there?

JB: Jeremy and I have actually lived near the New River for most of our lives. And when I was building the business plan thinking hard about a name, I wanted something that would resonate within a reasonably wide area, but that was also a local thing. The great thing about the New River is that it travelled all the way from Hertfordshire as far as Islington – tracts of it are still there – and it has some recognition as a piece of history because it’s been there for 400 years. In the 1600’s a lot of people were dying from cholera from poor sewerage etc and the New River was built to bring fresh drinking water in to London. Within nine years they had a river over 40 miles long that took fresh water from springs in Hertfordshire into central London. There is a nice parallel there with the brewery – we obviously hope to be transporting fresh beer into London for 400 years! The river flows right past the back door of the brewery.

JA: We came up with a very strong brand design with the help of our designer, and we incorporated the story of the New River into the pump clip design. So we invested in that and also named our beers in reference to the river too – Five Inch Drop for example is a reference to the gradient of the river as it flows into London. We are also active online, on our website and social media, and we do some local promotion – recently we were approached by a local pumpkin grower who had entered one of his pumpkins into a competition and wanted to do something with it afterwards. So we used

the pumpkin in an ale called Pumped Up which gained us quite a lot of local press and was even picked up by the Sun newspaper as well. That was a good example of a little local campaign that has helped raise awareness of our brand.

In an increasingly crowded market, how do you stay ahead of your competitors?

JB: It’s difficult to say at the moment that we’re ahead of anyone as we’ve only been doing this for a year! But I think the interesting thing is that as we have been through the process of building the brewery it has been amazing how helpful and collaborative other brewers have been.

How open they’ve been to us. Shared ideas, and supported us technically too. As people who have worked in very cutthroat industries in the past it is amazing how collaborative this sector is, so we don’t really see the other local breweries as competitors as such. We see them more as people who are very similar to us and have a passion for great beer, and very rarely do we actually tread on eachother’s toes. I’m not saying the market overall isn’t competitive, but we don’t see other small brewers as our main challenge really. The people who we’d like to steal market share from are the larger brewers. But we’re not really competing with them in a big way either because they are so huge and we are so small. We are not naïve, we know how difficult it is to sell in to publicans and make money, we know it’s a competitive market, but we are part of a growing sub-set of that market which is persuading drinkers to try something different, and they are, and they are liking it and buying more, and that is exciting.

Continued on page 45

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BUSINESS PROFILE

How are you seeing consumer attitudes to beer change and how has this affected your range?

JB: We have got two parts to our market really, the outside the M25 Home Counties market, which is more traditional, and then inside the M25 we see more trendy pubs and crafty key and bottles and that is a very different marketplace. What we have tried to do with flavour is appeal to both markets, but we can’t be all things to all men and women, and we know we are not geared up to produce high ABV beers so we have tried to produce products that appeal to both markets. We did a massive amount of research before we started, looking at not just the customers but the beer styles, we went to a huge number of beer festivals, and met lots of brewers, and it was quite clear to us quite early on that the high ABV, highly hopped beers, were to some degree not going to appeal to the market outside the M25 so it was a non-starter for us. But we have focused very much on packing in flavour, by increasing the bitterness and end hopping the beer, without the high ABV. That does differentiate us from some of the others in the region we are brewing in.

You recently took on a new apprentice at the brewery. How did that come about and what benefits are there for you as a business?

JA: The reason we recently took on Kyle Hall as our apprentice is that we wanted to bring in someone young, hungry, and who wanted to learn a trade. We needed to recruit someone who was willing to take on the heavy lifting and suchlike, and we wanted to give someone a chance who was keen to learn and would hopefully grow with the business, which is still very

new. It seemed an obvious route to take.

So we approached Herford College, our local college, and they have a department which deals with apprenticeships and they came and paid us a visit and made a suggestion about what sort of role would be suitable and we are going to be doing a Customer Service apprenticeship. Kyle will work with us four days a week and then one day a month he will go to the college to do the course there, and that will qualify him for all aspects of customer liason, telesales, etc. He’ll also be learning the more practical side of brewing too. An assessor from the college will visit regularly to see how he’s getting on and obviously he’ll do his course work at the college too, and at the end of the year we’d hope to be able to offer him a permanent job if it has all worked out – although we haven’t had to guarantee that. It removes some of the risk for us in employing someone certainly.

We see it as an investment in the future.

We didn’t just want to employ someone who was going to take their pay cheque and then move on after one or two years, we wanted someone who would grow with the business.

fundamental to our business model and without it we wouldn’t survive, and I think that is the same for a large number of the smaller brewers in the industry. The lobby isn’t that strong at the moment but it is certainly gaining some momentum. If you do the sums it is absolutely essential, there is no way on earth if you lost that relief you could pass that cost onto your customers. You would have to stomach that and also bear in mind there is a lot of cost price inflation at the moment. Often because it’s relatively low at the moment – 2, 3, 5% - it is not on people’s radar, but just about every supplier is inflating their costs simultaneously meanwhile the brewer can’t do that on their prices so margins are being squeezed. For example the recent business rates review has hit one or two brewers really hard, the ever inflating minimum wage, inflation in hop prices because of the scarcity, malt being brought in to the UK is more expensive because of the exchange rate and obviously Brexit means that won’t improve, and also energy prices are going up. And these are all costs you can’t pass on to your customers.

JB: The interesting thing is that it’s not just about finding someone who wants to train as a brewer – those people are quite scarce – we have found someone who is interested in customer service and has approached his local college and you can connect a lot of our work to customer service so he is getting that experience with us.

Who do you most admire in the sector?

What challenges do you see for small brewers in the current market?

One challenge is to do with Small Brewers Relief. Some larger brewers are arguing at the moment to have that amended but we would see that as absolutely

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JB: We have strong respect for any successful small brewer really. We trained with Paradigm Brewery in West Hertfordshire and they are great blokes and have some great beers, we know the people at Twickenham well and we have great respect for them, and Redemption are just round the corner in Tottenham and Andy Moffat obviously came from a similar background so he was an inspiration to us. Basically we admire any small brewer prepared to take on the challenge and brew some great beer.

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SIBA BUSINESS - BACK OFFICE

TECHNICAL SERVICES

AVOIDING OFF FLAVOURS IN BEER: Ed Wray, Campden BRI

Having looked at haze problems in beer and how to avoid them in the last two issues, we will now look at problems with off flavours reported in beer to the SIBA technical helpline, the most common of which is sulphur.

flavours in beer as sulphur compounds are used as fungicides during cultivation. The essential oils of hop are another possible source, as although sulphur compounds are only present in small amounts they have a potent aroma so can influence the flavour of the beer. As sulphur compounds are driven off during the boil it is particularly late hops and dry hops that are a potential problem, and it may be necessary to adjust your hopping regime avoid off flavours.

Sulphury off flavours can come from a number of sources. Brewing water with high sulphate levels can cause the famous “Burton snatch” smell as hydrogen sulphide is produced, but in excess this can become an unpleasant eggy smell, so look to your water analysis and liquor treatment.

Malt can also be a source of sulphur flavours as it is the source of dimethyl sulphide (DMS) which has gives beer a flavour described as sweetcorn or tinned tomatoes. The precursor of DMS, S-methylmethionine (SMM) is present in malt and heat will cause it to be converted to the more flavour active DMS. It the brewhouse, this will happen during wort boiling. It is highly volatile though, so vigorous boiling will drive it off, but a short boil can leave a lot in the wort which will carry through to the beer. Similarly, during a prolonged whirlpool stand more DMS will be created from the SMM but there will be no vigorous boil to evaporate it so again the levels in beer can be raised.

Selection of the base malt will also affect how much DMS is in the beer, as the levels of SMM in malt will depend upon how much it is kilned. Lightly kilned extra pale or lager malts will contain more than pale ale malts.

Although sulphur is no longer used when hops are kilned, they can still be a source of sulphur

During fermentation yeast will produce hydrogen sulphide, and other sulphur containing compounds (thiols) this production leads to. The amount produced depends on the yeast strain, but lager yeasts will produce more than ale yeasts. During poor fermentations hydrogen sulphide production is higher, and the effects of this are compounded by a reduction in the purging by CO2 during sluggish fermentations.

To avoid these effects pitch healthy yeast at an adequate pitching rate into wort with sufficient FAN (140mg/L) to ensure good yeast growth. The rule of thumb for pitching rate is one million cells per ml of wort per degree Plato (i.e. for every four degrees Sacch) or approximately half a kilo of slurry per hectolitre of wort. Spoilage organisms, particularly Gram-negative bacteria, can also produced hydrogen sulphide at high levels so it is possible that sulphury off flavours are caused by infection, and improvements to cleaning and hygiene are required.

Sulphur dioxide and also be added to beer as a preservative and is used as a preservative for isinglass finings. Excessive use of either of these can unsurprisingly lead to noticeable sulphury flavours in beer, so ensure only the correct dosing rate is used.

“SULPHURY OFF FLAVOURS CAN COME FROM A NUMBER OF SOURCES. BREWING WATER WITH HIGH SULPHATE LEVELS CAN CAUSE THE FAMOUS “BURTON SNATCH” SMELL AS HYDROGEN SULPHIDE IS PRODUCED, BUT IN EXCESS THIS CAN BECOME AN UNPLEASANT EGGY SMELL.”

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SIBA BUSINESS - BACK OFFICE

LEGAL

HOLIDAY PAY UPDATE Calculating the correct level of holiday pay for your staff has become increasingly difficult following numerous legal decisions over the past couple of years. Oliver McCann, Employment and HR Partner at Napthens, provides guidance on the current legal position and what this means for your business.

Under UK law (Working Time Regulations 1998 - “WTR”), workers are entitled to at least 5.6 weeks holiday per year, which amounts to 28 days for a full-time employee and pro-rated for part time or irregular hours. This entitlement can be inclusive of public and bank holidays. The UK entitlement is higher than the four weeks’ statutory holiday required under EU law.

Oli McCann, Napthens

Pay for annual leave should be “a week’s pay for a week’s leave” under the WTR. Since the regulations were introduced, a week’s pay for a worker who worked normal working hours was considered to be calculated based on basic salary without taking into account overtime, bonuses, commission, overtime premiums or allowances. This changed the approach to calculating a weeks pay as set out in the Employment Rights Act 1996, which had been fairly settled law, and practice, until the past few years.

However, as a result of three decisions in recent cases, the traditional approach is now incorrect.

The Williams case

This was a case taken to the European Court of Justice by a group of airline pilots. The question in front of the Court was whether two supplementary payments (a “flying pay supplement” and a “time away from base allowance”) should be paid to the pilots even when they were on annual leave.

The airline had a practice of only paying basic salary when the pilots were on holiday. The Court sided with the pilots and stated that holiday pay should reflect their normal pay and the supplements, if part of normal pay, should be included.

The Bear Scotland Case

This case looked specifically at overtime and whether overtime that an employer is under ‘no obligation’ to offer but that an employee is required to work if offered should be used in the calculation for holiday pay. This is known as “non-guaranteed overtime”.

It was decided that non-guaranteed overtime should be classed as normal remuneration and included in any calculation for holiday pay. The case was silent on “voluntary overtime” i.e. where there is no requirement to offer overtime and no obligation to work if asked.

The key point is that an employee should not be financially worse off by taking holidays. Their holiday pay should reflect their usual earnings. A failure to pay the correct level of holiday pay may result in claims for unlawful deduction of wages.

This case law only applies to the four weeks holiday under EU law and not the additional 1.6 weeks under the WTR. In addition, workers are prevented from bringing a claim if there has been more than three months since a previous deduction. The Government also announced emergency legislation which placed a cap of two years’ back pay on any claims.

Businesses are advised to review their holiday pay calculation and ensure that they are complying with recent case law.

If you are unsure about whether or not you are compliant, contact Napthens for further advice.

For advice on this topic or on legal issues affecting your business please contact SIBA Legal Helpline: 0845 6710277 North West law firm Napthens LLP is a SIBA supplier associate and gold standard sponsor. The firm has a team of specialists looking after the legal requirements of clients in the leisure and licensed trade sector, with clients including Daniel Thwaites plc and Sceptre Leisure Ltd.

The Lock Case

Napthens manages the SIBA Legal Helpline which offers legal advice and guidance on a wide range of legal issues affecting your business including: general commercial, intellectual property, corporate finance, dispute resolution and litigation, commercial property, licensing, debt recovery and employment law.

The principles which have arisen from all these cases is that, if remuneration is linked to the performance of a worker’s contractual duties then it should be included in the calculation for holiday pay. The following are therefore covered by this:

Any enquiry through the helpline will receive up to 1 hour of free legal expertise (if further work is require, you’ll be advised of the appropriate charging structure)

This case confirmed that contractual commission should be classed as normal remuneration and included in the calculation for holiday pay.

Full details of the helpline can be found on the SIBA Members Toolbox.

•Commission payments •Incentive/productivity/performance bonuses •Overtime that workers are required to perform • Payments based on seniority, length of service or professional qualifications •Shift allowances and premiums •Standby payments •Travel and other allowances which are treated as taxable

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SIBA BUSINESS - BACK OFFICE

MARKETING

NUKE EVERYTHING AND START AGAIN

Mark McCulloch is the Founder & Group CEO of WE ARE Spectacular

New Year is a great time to start to think differently in all areas for your business. Hopefully some of the downtime (if you managed to have any) gave you a chance to reflect on the year and get planning while everyone else is partying.

However, as a tip I would have planned long before now using August to double down your efforts while the whole of the country including your competitors are lying poolside and then have your new business plan, marketing plan and budgets all sewn up by end of October latest.

Marketing is summed up really nicely in one word ‘attention’. Once you lock into that idea then marketing becomes a different beast all together.

If you think about trying to get your friend’s attention when they are across the street, you have to do something different than just say their name in the usual way to get the reaction you want. Most marketing is one size fits all for all occasions and does not follow through to ensure that your friend acknowledged you (cutting through the noise of the street, traffic and buzz around them) if we keep the analogy going.

So, the first thing to do is figure out how your customers really are. This is to be surgical, not butchery. Think one profile type only, singular like a person. Not 18-75, anyone who likes beer etc. The key is to ask yourself who is the one customer group that will profitably build your business going forward. You can also think about the customers you have and ask yourself if that who you want. By defining or redefining who ‘they’ are gives you’re the chance to change who buys your products/service in the future.

The right answer could be something as tight as Male, 35, middle management, recently married/cohabiting, no kids (yet), commuter, works in the financial/legal sector, foodie and live in Kent. This means that you can investigate their media consumption and also really think about what their interests are which means you can write creative that will resonate and also target then infinitely on facebook and instagram where their attention actually is. You will also be forced into the mindset of creating creative for each segment as what resonates with a 25 year old in Scotland, may not resonate with a 40 year old in Birmingham however their attention is on the same platforms. The other thing to think about is also where you can get more sales and for me Amazon is the one place where the value for money, reach and conversion is insane. It is definitely worth looking into.

Back to facebook and instagram. I would focus all attention here in terms of marketing and allocate a budget to target your customers based on what the like on facebook. So, for example you could target on where they live, that they like certain competitor beer brands, likeminded food brands, the right pubs, bands, TV programmes and celebrities that you would expect them to be into. You can also set up a creative for birthdays where you target friends of people who are about to become new parents, have just moved house, have an anniversary and/or their job title (corporate orders). You could spend your whole life testing out strategies based on and the great news is that it is infinitely trackable. The same goes for Instagram. The point is that if you post on your facebook or instagram without spend behind it then you may very well be talking to a very small percentage of your fans/followers or yourself. On Twitter I would suggest using this for new news, customer service, events, listening for relevant conversations that could convert into a sale and also researching you customers so that you can surprise and delight them from time to time.

In summary, you should nuke everything you ever thought about marketing and start again. It is best to start afresh and focus on:

1

Defining your target audience(s) as distinct groups

2

efine where you think their attention is (Facebook D and Instagram)

3

Map out what you think they into (hobbies, beers etc) and create your creative from this

4

Reverse engineer all of the above to guide what your sales message is per segment and also where you can best spend your money to place the advert/ communications to gain attention.

Mark McCulloch is the Founder & Group CEO of WE ARE Spectacular Mark has 15 years experience in brand, marketing, digital, social and PR. WE ARE Spectacular have worked with many leading food, drink and leisure clients including Costa Coffee, Fuller's Inns, YO! Sushi, Belushi's, Long Arm Brewery, Harviestoun Brewery and Drake & Morgan to name a few. www.wearespectacular.com

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SIBA BUSINESS - BACK OFFICE

FINANCIAL PLANNING

5

BREW YEAR’S RESOLUTIONS FOR YOUR BUSINESS

James Sleight, Geoffrey Martin & Co

The new year is a great time to review your business, from looking at key financial numbers to refreshing your marketing plan. Here are five things to think about over the next few weeks:

1 Review your business plan

3 Review your sales and marketing plans

Your business plan (assuming you have one) should be a living plan, reviewed on a regular basis and not just written when you first started your business and then quietly put in a drawer. If you haven’t even got a plan, now’s the time to prepare one.

A business plan will help you to focus on the key priorities on your business and set out targets against progress. It’s also a good time to look at contingency planning around what will happen to your business if certain factors change, e.g. if hop prices increase, how would this affect your business?

A good business plan may also help you with raising finance.

Banks or business angels will want to see your business plan before they invest, or offer a loan or an extended line of credit.

Do you know how effective all areas of your marketing are?

Linked to understanding your financials, most breweries will have limited marketing budgets, so knowing which aspects of your sales and marketing activities are working and which aren’t will help you to prioritise and make the most of your budget.

For example, if you have a website, do you know where your customers are coming from and do you have a process to contact them? Social media can be very cost effective, so are you making the most of Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn and tracking responses? Review your branding: if you want to be viewed as a craft brewer, does your branding reflect that?

Do you export? If not, is this a possibility in 2017? The favourable exchange rates for exporters may make this an opportunity that wasn’t possible before. The demand for UK craft brews overseas continues each year so look at exporting as an option.

2 Go through the numbers Review the fundamental numbers that can make or break your business. You may think this is just for the accountants, but every business owner should be able to track their important numbers.

If you don’t have any key indicators in place, now’s the time to set them. For example, how many barrels you need to brew and at what selling price do you need to cover your costs on a weekly / monthly basis.

These can include indicators such as £ value per customer or conversion rates on marketing activity, or mark-up per beer type. They should certainly include key financial ratios such as profit margins, sales forecasts, cost of sales; you should also be reviewing your expenses to see if these can be reduced. How do your actual numbers compare to your budget?

Possibly the main area to focus on is cashflow management.

This is crucial to any business and is a key factor in struggling businesses yet it’s an area that’s often neglected by business owners. Understanding the numbers that are relevant to your business gives you the chance to grow and prosper. Use technology: cloud-based accounting software such as Xero or SageOne will help you easily track revenue, expenses and bad debt. If in doubt, ask your accountant for help.

4 Plan your growth Don’t just say “we want to grow” this year. Put a specific number down, 10% or 70%, and work out a way of getting there, looking at new customers, new products and new promotional activity. SIBA’s own research shows that more people want to drink craft beer in restaurants; could this be an opportunity for you?

You should also review your distribution methods. Look at providing your beer in cans or bottles as well as cask and keg.

You may need investment to do this, so think about where you may raise money: banks, angels or crowdfunding. Each of these needs a specific approach so work out how much time will be needed. And don’t forget, you’ll need a business plan to show any potential investors.

5 Enjoy yourself Remember why you set up your business and make sure you allocate some time for yourself. Brewing is both a physical and an administrative job, so make sure it works for you across your whole lifestyle.

James Sleight is a Partner at Geoffrey Martin & Co, a Supplier Associate Member of SIBA. Geoffrey Martin & Co provides practical advice concerning growth, financial issues, exit and contingency planning, and insolvency.

For a free, informal chat about any aspects of your business, please call our Leeds team on 0113 244 5141

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SIBA JOURNAL WINTER 2017

TECHNICAL FOCUS

TECHNICAL

REVIEW

2016

By Dr Keith Thomas of Brewlab, Sunderland

As each year ends it is tempting to look back and remember outstanding beers drunk and tasting sessions survived.

From this we can perhaps view brewing trends and changes and possibly look to assess what may happen in the year ahead.

they do provide some unisomerised -acids and small amounts of low bitterness humulinones which only partly compensate. In summary, adding high levels of dry hops to your beer may lower the bitterness of your beer and change its flavour balance - in effect removing the hop bitterness you spent so much money to develop in the copper.

enzymes are particularly undesirable as they will destroy beer proteins and reduce your head retention. Managing yeast to minimise stress requires cropped yeast to be stored below 4C, dose yeast at one million viable cells per 1P (4 gravity) and dilute the yeast to below 3P (12 gravity) with boiled water. In addition minimise repitching to 12 cycles maximum.

It is also tempting to assess what developments appeared in brewing technology and knowledge and apply these also to the future. Some of this is to look at new or changing ingredients, legislation and packaging, each of which can stimulate large changes in products.

Gluten free grains, allergy labelling and canning being examples in each of these areas.

Yeast is a common area of interest for craft brewers with increasing interest in sourcing wild or novel strains and species. Many craft brewers use dried packet yeast both for convenience and

Packaging is perpetual problem for brewers of all sizes both in technical challenges to achieve stability and good shelf life but also in choice of materials. A study led

by D. Majdic at the University of Osijek in Croatia compared the major features of a lager and an all malt beer packaged in glass and PET bottles after storage at room temperature for six months. 15 factors assessed ranged from extract and gravity through colour, bitterness, haze oxygen and foam. Of these seven were found to differ significantly: colour, bitterness, polyphenols, haze, dissolved oxygen, carbon dioxide and foam. Lager beer was noted to change more than the all malt beer during packaging while the all malt beer produced more changes during storage. Beer in PET bottles showed more changes during storage than beer in glass bottles. To some extent these results mirror those we experience in trade and relate to stability provided by dark malt components. However, they also provide indications for how to monitor and minimise deterioration. Bitterness, haze and colour were the best predictor of other changes showing that a taste and a view will give an early indication of problems.

A similar area but less prominent is to look at technical and research investigations as reported by studies or new products in the market. Reports of studies are, unfortunately, often covered in technical jargon and often funded by and of benefit to large scale production which has the resources to apply them for commercial benefit. Occasionally, however, some investigations do have applications to small scale production and are worth a read. Here are a few from 2016: Firstly, a study by John Maye and Robert Smith at Steiner Hops assessed the effect of dry hopping on bitterness levels. This is a practise favoured by many small brewers but often using empirical knowledge and with little guidance from standard protocols. After adding whole hops to beer of known bitterness the study found that bitterness was reduced by a whole 21%!

Not an increase as perhaps we would expect. Part of this finding resulted from bitterness being measured by the more specific HPLC method than a simple solvent extraction. The reasons proposed are that hop leaves adsorb iso--acids, the active bitterness agents. When added

“MANY CRAFT BREWERS USE DRIED PACKET YEAST BOTH FOR CONVENIENCE AND FOR LACK OF KNOWLEDGE TO SUCCESSFULLY CROP AND REPITCH.” for lack of knowledge to successfully crop and repitch. A further difficulty is in handling yeast correctly for high gravity beers and for high gravity brewing where a strong wort is diluted. A report

by Graham Stewart from Heriot-Watt University identifies some critical areas for managing yeast in these conditions.

A key aspect of these operations is in minimising stress on the yeast cells. Such stresses arise from the initial high sugar concentrations, from the later high alcohol concentrations as well as high and low temperatures and oxygen all of which prevail during the brewing cycle. In high gravity worts yeast metabolism produces disproportionately more esters and also releases contents such as proteinases from stressed cells. While esters may suit the flavour profile of strong ales proteinase

WWW.SIBA.CO.UK

Further advances in knowledge are likely in 2017 with, hopefully, more relevance to small scale production. Interest in technology is increasing in the sector with many brewers looking in more detail at microbiology, specialist ingredients and novel recipes. Research can take an age to reach production in some industries but the dynamics of craft brewing may prove that incorrect before very long.

SIBA JOURNAL WINTER 2017

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BEERX PREVIEW

DON’T MISS THE UK'S BIGGEST

AND BEST INDEPENDENT CRAFT BREWING EVENT

87%

GOOD SEMINARS AND THE TRADE SHOW WAS THE BEST EVER!

RATED THEIR EXPERIENCE AT BEERX AS GOOD OR EXCELLENT.

SIBA’s BeerX in Sheffield has grown

SIBA’s members of new technologies, techniques or best practices from industry experts with a proven track record. The schedule has been put together to provide practical take home advice that could have a genuine commercial benefit to your brewery.

For the first time ever a two day trade show will run across both sides of iceSheffield, doubling the floor space available for the hugely popular trade show of brewing industry manufacturers, suppliers and service providers. Whether you are interested in new products from hop and malt merchants, want to speak with the brewery fabricators and builders, fit a new canning line or get a company to do it for you - the BeerX Trade Show has it covered.

Of course BeerX is also the home of the Independent Beer Awards & SIBA Business Awards. The coveted ‘brewers choice’ beer awards are the top accolade for independent brewers in the UK and up for grabs across cask, keg, bottle and can competitions in a range of different style categories. The SIBA Business Awards were introduced to highlight and promote the amazing business developments being made by independent craft brewers across the UK in a broad range of areas - from design and marketing, to Green Business, Promotion or even new Retail, Bar and Restaurant categories.

over recent year’s to become the UK’s biggest all-in-one beer and brewing event, involving all sides of the beer industry - from brewers, to suppliers, industry representatives, journalists and in 2017 even beer bloggers and communicators.

On top of the trade show there is also an extensive schedule of seminars and keynote speakers, helping to educate and inform

Tickets available from 56

SIBA JOURNAL WINTER 2017

But BeerX wouldn’t be a true showcase of independent craft beer without the very best beers from across the UK available for delegates and the general public to sample - which is why this year we’re replacing the Festival of Beer with the bigger, better ‘BeerAlive!’ - which will take place in its own custom built space, with more room for beer, street food and live performers than ever before.

Finally, BeerX will be hosting the Beer Now conference on the saturday and sunday, an event aimed at beer bloggers, communicators and writers from across Europe looking learn the latest in beer communication. It’s an event with a specific audience in mind but which helps to cement BeerX’s place as the must-attend beer event of 2017, and which your marketing, social media or communications staff (or yourself) may be interested in attending.

beerx.org/delegates

BEERX PREVIEW

BEERX 2017: WHAT TO EXPECT CONFERENCE & AGM The doors will open to hundreds of brewery representatives, key beer and pub industry figureheads and exhibitors on Thursday 16th March 2017. SIBA’s AGM will take place on the opening day with Mike Benner, SIBA’s Managing Director, presenting the association’s annual report to conference.

BEERALIVE! INDIE CRAFT BEER SHOWCASE

SIBA’s new BeerAlive! event will start on Friday evening and run through to Sunday 19th March. This will be a different event to your usual beer festival. BeerAlive! will present the very best beer British independent brewers have to offer with SIBA’s National Cask, Keg and Small Pack (Bottle and Can) champions all on sale under one roof.

Visitors receive a fresh glass with every beer they purchase so your beer will always taste like it should do. This year SIBA will create 8 circular regional bars to host the award winners from around Britain, so finding those favourite award winning beers will be a lot easier for the visitor.

SEMINARS, KEYNOTES & TRADE SHOW Both Thursday and Friday will consist of many exciting seminars, key speakers and panel debates. Throughout the day delegates will be able to visit 150+ Supplier Associate exhibitors ranging from cask manufacturers to bottle-opener producers. We have doubled this year’s amount of exhibition space so there will be plenty of room for all.

THURSDAY 16TH MARCH

FRIDAY 17TH MARCH

PRESENTATIONS, SPEAKERS & DEBATES

PRESENTATIONS, SPEAKERS & DEBATES

• BeerX Official Opening by Pubs Minister’ Andrew Percy MP • SIBA MD Mike Benner presents Annual Report • Guest Speaker’s speech, Bob Pease - CEO for the Brewers Association (US) • The state of the beer & pub market - Keynote speaker to be revealed soon!

• Market Rent Only - What does it mean for Craft Brewers?

(Panel Debate) • Breaking into hospitality, with the ALMR (Panel Debate)

• SIBA’s Members’ Report with Prof. Ignazio Cabras • Craft Brewing - Has the bubble burst? (Panel Debate) • Brexit for Brewers (Panel Debate) • New Alcohol Guidelines (Panel Debate)

SEMINARS

• Technical on finings - Alternatives to Isinglass • Launch of Institute of Brewing & Distilling Training • Brewery Finance - Capital injection & exit strategies • FSQ - A hub for SIBA member support

• Creating & Marketing your Brands • Institute of Brewing & Distilling Training • Pricing - a sustainable approach • Designing the perfect can • Breaking into the Off-trade • AWRS & HMRC Compliance • Managing Financial Problems • What is next for UK’s Craft Brewing industry? Pete Brown

EVENTS & AWARDS

EVENTS & AWARDS

SEMINARS

• BeerAlive! Opens • Meet the Buyer Appointments • Independent Brewing Awards

• Chairman’s Reception • SIBA Business Awards 2017 • Explore Sheffield Pub Events

Details correct at the time of going to print. However, the programme will develop over the coming weeks so please visit beer.org/delegates for up to date information.

beer

Plus! Saturday 18th & Sunday 19th features craft beer showcase and Beer Now bloggers & communicators conference (see the SIBA News pages for more details).

BeerX Delegate tickets are on sale from January at beerx.org and this year’s bumper seminar schedule and huge brewing trade show is set to make BeerX a must attend event for brewers and brewery staff.

Don’t miss out - go online to www.beerx.org and book your place today!

WWW.SIBA.CO.UK

SIBA JOURNAL WINTER 2017

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IF THERE’S A BEER FOR THAT...

THERE’S A MALT FOR THAT...

AND THERE’S A SUPPLIER FOR THAT...

SIBA judges said of Crisp “… professional, customer orientated,

friendly and supportive, technically strong, well resourced… always go that extra mile for their customers” To find out more about the full range of malts and technical support, please contact: nigel.gibbons@crispmalt.com 07788 394 147 carl.heron@crispmalt.com 07771 954 205 colin.johnston@crispmalt.com 07833 122 074 www.crispmalt.com

BEERX PREVIEW

SIBA BUSINESS AWARDS 2017: YOUR ESSENTIAL GUIDE SIBA relaunched the Business Awards in 2016 to include brand new categories for the UK’s best Independent Craft Beer Retailer, Bar/Pub, and Restaurant plus two more awards for Best Independent Craft Beer Promotion in the on and off-trade.

The SIBA Business Awards seek to celebrate excellence in the brewing industry across a variety of categories, from pump clip, can and bottle design, to efforts taken by you as brewers to make your business more eco-friendly or to support your local community.

The new independent craft beer categories are in response to the success of the beer market in the UK and the growing importance of recognising those businesses going the extra mile. We believe the awards are unique in that they are judged by those from within the industry rather than publications or other awards bodies looking in.

There has also been a streamlining of some of the existing categories for 2017 to give clearer, more rounded category options for those looking to enter, this year that meant making the design categories more clearly defined and simpler to enter - one for a single design of a pumpclip, bottle or can, the other for a whole brand design, range of beers, or particular marketing campaign.

As well as the categories, the way in which the awards are presented has been changed to give more credit to the companies involved in carrying out the work breweries are entering for. For example the ‘Best Individual Design’ could be won jointly by the brewery who commissioned the artwork and by the design company who produced it.

Not only does this allow Supplier Associate members to enter work they have carried out on behalf of breweries, but it also lets you brewers highlight the companies you work with should you want to.

A REMINDER OF LAST YEAR’S WINNERS – get your entry in before the end of January and you could be in with a chance of being on this list in 2017!

SIBA Business Awards 2017: The Categories • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

ENTRY DEADLINE 31ST JANUARY 2017

Marketing Implementation Green Business Business Innovation Commercial Achievement Best Individual Design Best Concept Design Supplier Associate of the year UK's Best Independent Craft Beer Retailer - Multiple UK's Best Independent Craft Beer Retailer - Single UK's Best Independent Craft Beer Bar or Pub - City UK's Best Independent Craft Beer Bar or Pub - Rural UK's Best Independent Craft Beer Restaurant Best Independent Craft Beer Promotion - On-trade Best Independent Craft Beer Promotion - Off-trade

• Marketing Implementation - Hobson’s Brewery (Worcestershire) • Community Support - Rebellion Beer Co (Buckinghamshire) • Green Business - Freedom (Staffordshire) • Best Individual Design - Purity Brewery for ‘X’ (Warwickshire) • Best Concept Design - Loch Ness (Scotland) • Business Innovation - Hogs Back Brewery (Surrey) • UK’s Best Independent Craft Beer Retailer - Multiple: Waitrose • UK’s Best Independent Craft Beer Retailer - Single: Beer 52 (Online) • UK’s Best Independent Craft Beer Restaurant - Bundobust (West Yorkshire) • Best Independent Craft Beer Promotion - On-trade: There’s a Beer For That • Best Independent Craft Beer Promotion - Off-trade: There’s a Beer For That • Commercial Achievement - Charnwood Brewery (Leicestershire) • UK’s Best Independent Craft Beer Bar or Pub – City: Urban Taphouse (Wales) • UK’s Best Independent Craft Beer Bar or Pub – Rural: Yew Tree Inn (Cheshire) • Export Award: Thornbridge (Derbyshire) • Supplier Associate of the Year: Saxon Packaging • Brewery Business of the Year: Tiny Rebel (Wales) To enter the awards or find out more about the categories visit

www.siba.co.uk/businessawards

WWW.SIBA.CO.UK

SIBA JOURNAL WINTER 2017

59

us X sit r 2 Vi Bee A3 at and St

IF YOU’VE GOT THE BOTTLE

Independent Family Maltsters since 1809 Manufacturers of the finest Pale Ale, Crystal and Roasted Malts All Malts delivered ON TIME to your specification, crushed or whole.

Main products include: Maris Otter, Pearl, Propino and Golden Promise Ale Malts together with the complete range of Speciality Crystal and Roasted Malts including Wheat, Oat and Rye products.

Thomas Fawcett & Sons Limited Eastfield Lane, Castleford, West Yorkshire WF10 4LE Tel: 01977 552490/552460 Fax: 01977 519076 E-mail: sales@fawcett-maltsters.co.uk

.co.uk

THEN WE’VE GOT THE SOLUTIONS

Powerful POS and Promotional Items for your Brewery from Purple Mustard!

At Purple Mustard, we offer a huge variety of Point of Sale and Promotional items, specifically designed to support our Brewery Customers and help you grow your business.

Our entire range is available in quantities that work for you. So, whether you’re looking for Bar Runners and Towels, PVC Bar Rails, Bar Barriers or Outdoor Parasols, our helpful team are on hand to help you get your brand and message seen!

• • •

Low MOQ’s – Bar Runner Packages From 25 Pieces Fast Lead Times – Delivery In Just 2 weeks Competitive Pricing – SIBA Member Exclusive Rates To view our full range, visit www.purplemustard.co.uk

t: 01721 724296 w: www.evolutionbps.co.uk Evolution House, Cavalry Park Peebles. EH45 9BU

60

SIBA JOURNAL WINTER 2017

enquiry@purplemustard.co.uk +44 (0)2920 864555

BEERX PREVIEW BEERX DELEGATE tickets are on sale from January at beerx.org and this year's bumper seminar schedule and huge brewing trade show is set to make BEERX a must attend event for brewers and brewery staff.

DON’T MISS OUT - go online to www.beerx.org and book your place today!

GOOD SEMINARS AND THE TRADE SHOW WAS THE BEST EVER!

“VERY HAPPY WITH THE BUSINESS WE DID AT THE STAND AND CONTACTS MADE, WILL CERTAINLY BE ATTENDING NEXT YEAR.”

90%

OF EXHIBITORS SAY EXHIBITING AT BEERX REPRESENTS VALUE FOR MONEY

AN EXCELLENT OPPORTUNITY TO NETWORK AND TOUCH BASE WITH OUR SUPPLIERS.

WWW.SIBA.CO.UK

“AN OPPORTUNITY TO MEET SUPPLIERS & OTHER BREWERS ALL IN ONE PLACE. I SAW LOTS OF CUSTOMERS AND SUPPLIERS WHICH IS HUGELY VALUABLE.”

87%

RATED THEIR EXPERIENCE AT BEERX AS GOOD OR EXCELLENT.

SIBA JOURNAL WINTER 2017

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REGIONAL BEER COMPETITIONS

SIBA East Region

Elgoods Brewery, Wisbech 29th September 2016 Overall Champion of the Competition Sponsored by

SPAsoft Ltd

Standard Mild Ales & Brown Ales

Sponsored by Bulk Storage & Process Systems Ltd

Standard Bitters & Pale Ales

Best Bitters & Pale Ales

Rankin Brothers & Sons

Charles Faram & Co. Ltd

Sponsored by

Sponsored by

SPAsoft Ltd present Grain Brewery with gold award

Tony Jerome presents Earl Soham Brewery Ltd with gold award

Rankin Brothers & Sons present Lacons Brewery with silver award

Charles Faram & Co. Ltd present Grain Brewery with gold award

GOLD Grain Brewery Redwood 4.3 SILVER Red Squirrel Brewing Company London Porter 5.0 BRONZE Oakham Ales Green IPA 6.0

GOLD Earl Soham Brewery Ltd Sir Rogers porter 4.2 SILVER Brentwood Brewing Company White Elephant 4.0 BRONZE Milton Brewery Minotaur 3.3

GOLD Wibblers Brewery (Farms) Ltd Dengie IPA 3.6 SILVER Lacons Brewery Encore 3.8 BRONZE Maldon Brewing Company Ltd A Drop of Nelson’s Blood 3.8

GOLD Grain Brewery Redwood 4.3 SILVER Bishop Nick Ltd Heresy 4.0 BRONZE Tring Brewery Drop Bar Pale Ale 4.0

Premium Bitters & Pale Ales

Strong Bitters & Pale Ales

Premium Strong Beers

Sponsored by

QCL Beerlab

Sponsored by

Sponsored by

Murphy & Son Ltd Crisp Malting Group

Porters, Stouts, Old Ales, Strong Milds & Strong Brown Ales Sponsored by

Muntons PLC

QCL Beerlab present Green Jack Brewing Co. Ltd with gold award

Murphy & Son Ltd present Elmtree Beers Ltd with bronze award

Crisp Malting Group present Oakham Ales with gold award

Muntons PLC present Green Jack Brewing Co. Ltd with bronze award

GOLD Green Jack Brewing Co. Ltd. Trawlerboys 4.6 SILVER Milton Brewery Minerva 4.6 BRONZE Oldershaw Brewery Hello! 4.5

GOLD Earl Soham Brewery Ltd Sea Dog 5.5 SILVER Green Jack Brewing Co. Ltd. Mahseer IPA 5.8 BRONZE Elmtree Beers Ltd Golden Pale Ale 5.0

GOLD Oakham Ales Green Devil IPA 6.0 SILVER Lacons Brewery Audit 8.0 BRONZE Earl Soham Brewery Ltd Dreadnought 6.5

GOLD Red Squirrel Brewing Company London Porter 5.0 SILVER Mauldons Brewery Black Adder Stout 5.3 BRONZE Green Jack Brewing Co. Ltd Lurcher 4.8

Speciality Beers Sponsored by

Brewers Select

Brewers Select present Colchester Brewery with silver award

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SIBA JOURNAL WINTER 2017

GOLD Mauldons Brewery Blackberry Porter 4.8 SILVER Colchester Brewery Brazilian 4.6 BRONZE Billericay Brewing Chilli Porter 5.9

REGIONAL BEER COMPETITIONS

Champion Small Pack Beers Sponsored by

Beatson Clark

Mike Benner presents Wolf Brewery with gold award

Small Pack Standard Mild Ales & Brown Ales

Mike Benner presents Nerthergate Brewery with silver award

Small Pack Standard Bitters & Pale Ales Sponsored by

Saxon Packaging

Saxon Packaging present Shortts Brewery with gold award

Small Pack Premium Bitters & Pale Ales Sponsored by

Label Apeel

Label Apeel present Woodfordes with gold award

GOLD Wolf Brewery Sirius Dog Star 4.4 SILVER Elgood & Sons Ltd Warrior Ale 5.5 BRONZE Tring Brewery Tea Kettle Stout 4.7

GOLD Wolf Brewery Sirius Dog Star 4.4 SILVER Nethergate Brewery Suffolk County 4.0 BRONZE Earl Soham brewery Ltd Sir Rogers Porter 4.2

GOLD Shortts Brewery Rockabilly 4.3 SILVER Elmtree Beers Ltd Best Bitter 4.2 BRONZE Brentwood Brewing Company Brentwood Gold 4.3

GOLD Woodfordes Nelsons Revenge 4.5 SILVER Shortts Brewery Skiffle 4.5 BRONZE Elmtree Beers Ltd Snetterton Scary Tree 4.5

Small Pack Strong Bitters & Pale Ales

Small Pack Premium Strong Beers

Small Pack Standard Lager & Pilsners

Small Pack Premium Lager & Pilsners

Tony Jerome presents Oldershaw Brewery with bronze award

Air Equipment present Lacons Brewery with gold award

Mike Benner presents The Norfolk Brewhouse with gold award

Tony Jerome presents Calvors Brewery with silver award

GOLD Elgood & Sons Ltd Warrior Ale 5.5 SILVER Leighton Buzzard Brewing Co Restoration X 5.0 BRONZE Oldershaw Brewery American Hopquad IPA 5.5

GOLD Lacons Brewery Audit 8.0 SILVER St. Peter’s Brewery Co. Ltd Black IPA 7.0 BRONZE Barrell & Sellers India Pale Ale 6.0

GOLD The Norfolk Brewhouse DewHopper Norfolk Lager 4.0 SILVER Calvors Brewery Limited Calvors 3Point8 Helles Lager 3.8 BRONZE Brewsters Brewing Co Helles 4.0

GOLD The Norfolk Brewhouse StubbleStag 5.0 SILVER Calvors Brewery Limited

Sponsored by

Air Equipment

BRONZE Wibblers Brewery (Farms) Ltd Odyssey 5.0

Small Pack Porters, Stouts, Old Ales, Strong Milds & Strong Brown Ales Sponsored by CFB Boilers Ltd

Small Pack Speciality Beers

Mike Benner presents Elgood & Sons Ltd with gold award

Calvors Premium Pilsner Lager 5.0

GOLD Elgood & Sons Ltd Q E Cherry Wheat 3.6 SILVER Green Jack Brewing Co. Ltd. Flower Power 6.0 BRONZE Mauldons Brewery Blackberry Porter 4.8

CFB Boilers present Tring Brewery with gold award

WWW.SIBA.CO.UK

GOLD Tring Brewery Tea Kettle Stout 4.7 SILVER Brewsters Brewing Co Aromatic Porter 4.5 BRONZE Mauldons Brewery Black Adder Stout 5.3 SIBA JOURNAL WINTER 2017

63

REGIONAL BEER COMPETITIONS

SIBA Midlands Region

The New Bingley Hall, Birmingham 26th October 2016 Overall Champion of the Competition Sponsored by

Standard Mild Ales & Brown Ales

Kemtile Hygienic Flooring

Kemtile Hygienic Flooring present Brampton Brewery with gold award

Tony Jerome presents Springhead Fine Ales Limited with gold award

Standard Bitters & Pale Ales Sponsored by

CBI Insurance

Porters, Stouts, Old Ales, Strong Milds & Strong Brown Ales

GOLD Purity Brewing Company Pure Gold 3.8 SILVER Totally Brewed Guardina of the Forest 3.8 BRONZE Slater’s Ales Rye IPA 3.8

Premium Bitters & Pale Ales

Strong Bitters & Pale Ales

Premium Strong Beers

Sponsored by

Charles Faram & Co. Ltd

Charles Faram & Co. Ltd present Great Oakley Brewery with gold award

GOLD Springhead Fine Ales Limited Drop o’ the Black Stuff 4.0 SILVER Merrimen Brewing Ltd Black Beauty 3.9 BRONZE Great Oakley Brewery Welland Valley Mild 3.6

Muntons PLC

Sponsored by

CBI Insurance present Purity Brewing Company with gold award

GOLD Brampton Brewery Brampton Mild 4.9 SILVER Great Oakley Brewery Tiffield Thunderbolt 4.2 BRONZE Purity Brewing Company Pure Gold 3.8

Sponsored by

Best Bitters & Pale Ales

Sponsored by

Murphy & Son Ltd Rankin Brothers & Sons

GOLD Great Oakley Brewery Tiffield Thunderbolt 4.2 SILVER Rebellion Beer Company Ltd Smuggler 4.2 BRONZE Brunswick Brewing Company Triple Hop 4.0

Sponsored by

Crisp Malting Group

Muntons PLC present Derby Brewing Company with gold award

Murphy & Son Ltd present Slater’s Ales with gold award

Rankin Brothers & Sons present Castle Rock Brewery with gold award

Crisp Malting Group present Brampton Brewery with gold award

GOLD Derby Brewing Company Drop it like it’s hop! 4.5 SILVER Kinver Brewery Noble 4.5 BRONZE Dancing Duck Brewery Waddle it be? 4.5

GOLD Slater’s Ales Haka 5.2 SILVER Shiny Brewing Co. Disco Balls 5.3 BRONZE XT Brewing Company XPA – American IPA 5.9

GOLD Castle Rock Brewery Traffic Street Specials #8 Guns of Navarone 10.3 SILVER Thornbridge Brewery Saint Petersburg 7.4 BRONZE Kinver Brewery Over the Edge 7.5

GOLD Brampton Brewery Brampton Mild 4.9 SILVER Windsor Castle Brewery Ltd Sadler’s Mud City Stout 6.6 BRONZE Castle Rock Brewery Sherwood Reserve 4.5

Speciality Beers Sponsored by Boxmart Limited

Neil Walker presents Backyard Brewhouse Ltd with gold award

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SIBA JOURNAL WINTER 2017

GOLD Backyard Brewhouse Ltd Coaltown 5.0 SILVER Peak Ales Ltd. Chatsworth Gold 4.6 BRONZE Idle Valley Brewery Ltd Coconut shy PA 4.2

REGIONAL BEER COMPETITIONS

Champion Small Pack Beers Sponsored by

Label Apeel

Label Apeel present Thornbridge Brewery with gold award

Small Pack Standard Mild Ales & Brown Ales Sponsored by

Beatson Clark Ltd

Beatson Clark Ltd present The Loose Cannon Brewing Company with gold award

Small Pack Standard Bitters & Pale Ales

Small Pack Premium Bitters & Pale Ales

SPASoft Ltd present Idle Valley Brewery Ltd with gold award

Thornbridge Brewery receiving their gold award

Sponsored by

SPASoft Ltd

GOLD Thornbridge Brewery AM:PM 4.5 SILVER Great Oakley Brewery Gobble 4.5 BRONZE The Chiltern Brewery John Hampden’s Ale 4.8

GOLD Thornbridge Brewery Bayern 5.0 SILVER Idle Valley Brewery Ltd Vacant gesture 3.8 BRONZE Magpie Brewery Pica Oatmeal Stout 6.5

GOLD

Abingdon Bridge 4.1 SILVER Brampton Brewery Impy Dark 4.3 BRONZE Pheasantry Brewery Dark Ale 4.2

GOLD Idle Valley Brewery Ltd Vacant gesture 3.8 SILVER Weal Ales Brewery Wealy Hopper 4.2 BRONZE The Chiltern Brewery Gold 3.8

Small Pack Strong Bitters & Pale Ales

Small Pack Premium Strong Beers

Small Pack Standard Lager Small Pack Premium Lager & Pilsners & Pilsners

Tony Jerome presents Purity Brewing Company with gold award

Idle Valley Brewery Ltd receiving their bronze award

Charnwood Brewery receiving their gold award

Thornbridge Brewery receiving their gold award

GOLD Purity Brewing Company Longhorn IPA 5.0 SILVER Holden’s Brewery Dragon’s Blood 5.6 BRONZE Idle Valley Brewery Ltd Unpretentious Declarant 5.6

GOLD Magpie Brewery Pica Oatmeal Stout 6.5 SILVER Thornbridge Brewery Wild Raven 6.6 BRONZE Idle Valley Brewery Ltd 45th parallel 8.9

GOLD Charnwood Brewery Liska 4.0

GOLD Thornbridge Brewery Bayern 5.0

The Loose Cannon Brewing Company

Small Pack Speciality Beers

Titanic Brewery receiving their gold award

GOLD Titanic Brewery Plum Porter 4.9 SILVER Thornbridge Brewery Cocoa Wonderland 6.8 BRONZE Slater’s Ales Queen Bee 4.2

Small Pack Porters, Stouts, Old Ales, Strong Milds & Strong Brown Ales

Tony Jerome presents Lymestone Brewery Ltd with gold award

WWW.SIBA.CO.UK

GOLD Lymestone Brewery Ltd Stone the Crows 5.4 SILVER Weal Ales Brewery Centwealial Milk Stout 4.9 BRONZE Brampton Brewery Brampton Mild 4.9 SIBA JOURNAL WINTER 2017

65

REGIONAL BEER COMPETITIONS

SIBA North East Region

York CAMRA Beer & Cider Festival 14th September 2016 Overall Champion of the Competition

Sponsored by Lallemand UK Ltd

Standard Mild Ales & Brown Ales

Standard Bitters & Pale Ales

Best Bitters & Pale Ales

Close Brothers Brewery Rentals

Rankin Brothers & Sons

Charles Faram & Co. Ltd

Sponsored by

Sponsored by

Sponsored by

Lallemand UK Ltd present Rudgate Brewery Ltd with gold award

Close Brothers Brewery Rentals present Rudgate Brewery Ltd with gold award

Rankin Brothers & Sons present York Brewery Ltd with gold award

Charles Faram & Co. Ltd present Black Sheep Brewery with gold award

GOLD Rudgate Brewery Ltd Ruby Mild 4.4 SILVER Daleside Brewery Monkey Wrench 5.3 BRONZE York Brewery Ltd Blonde 3.9

GOLD Rudgate Brewery Ltd Ruby Mild 4.4 SILVER Half Moon Brewery Dark Masquerade 3.6 BRONZE Acorn Brewery Darkness 4.2

GOLD York Brewery Ltd Blonde 3.9 SILVER Pennine Brewing Co Hair of the Dog 3.9 BRONZE Sonnet 43 Brew House Abolition Amber Ale 3.8

GOLD Black Sheep Brewery Special Ale 4.4 SILVER Rooster’s Brewing Co. Yankee 4.3 BRONZE York Brewery Ltd Murray Gold 4.0

Premium Bitters & Pale Ales

Strong Bitters & Pale Ales

Premium Strong Beers

Porters, Stouts, Old Ales, Strong Milds & Strong Brown Ales

Murphy & Son Ltd present Cullercoats Brewery Ltd with gold award

SPASoft Ltd present Daleside Brewery with gold award

Muntons plc present Harrogate Brewing Company with gold award

Great Newsome Brewery receiving their gold award

GOLD Cullercoats Brewery Ltd Pilot 4.8 SILVER Ilkley Brewery ROMBALD 4.6 BRONZE Black Sheep Brewery Big Horn 4.5

GOLD Daleside Brewery Monkey Wrench 5.3 SILVER Harrogate Brewing Company Horse Head Stetson 5.9 BRONZE Rooster’s Brewing Co. Fort Smith 5.0

GOLD Harrogate Brewing Company Kursaal Imperial Stout 7.5 SILVER Elland Brewery 1872 Porter 6.5 BRONZE Rooster’s Brewing Co. Baby-Faced Assassin 6.1

GOLD Great Newsome Brewery Liquorice Lads Stout 4.3 SILVER Hambleton Ales LLP Nightmare Porter 5.0 BRONZE Brew York Viking DNA 5.0

Sponsored by

Murphy & Son Ltd Sponsored by SPASoft Ltd

Speciality Beers

Northern Monk Brewing Co receiving their gold award

66

SIBA JOURNAL WINTER 2017

GOLD Northern Monk Brewing Co Northern Star 5.9 SILVER Harrogate Brewing Company Vanilla Porter 4.5 BRONZE Geeves Brewery Captain Gingerbread 4.3

Sponsored by

Muntons plc

REGIONAL BEER COMPETITIONS

Champion Small Pack Beers Sponsored by

Label Apeel Ltd

Small Pack Standard Bitters & Pale Ales

Small Pack Premium Bitters & Pale Ales

Small Pack Strong Bitters & Pale Ales Sponsored by

Beatson Clark Ltd

Label Apeel Ltd present Maxim Brewery with gold award

Bad Seed Brewery Ltd. receiving their gold award

Scarborough Brewery receiving their gold award

Beatson Clark Ltd present Hambleton Ales with gold award

GOLD Maxim Brewery Maximus 6.0 SILVER Bad Seed Brewery Ltd. Session I.P.A. 4.0 BRONZE Hambleton Ales LLP Thoroughbred Pale Ale 5.0

GOLD Bad Seed Brewery Ltd. Session I.P.A. 4.0 SILVER Rooster’s Brewing Co. Yankee 4.3 BRONZE Cullercoats Brewery Ltd Shuggy Boat Blonde 3.8

GOLD Scarborough Brewery Old Sailor 4.9 SILVER Brew York Little Eagle 4.5 BRONZE The Hop Studio Gold 4.5

GOLD Hambleton Ales LLP Thoroughbred Pale Ale 5.0 SILVER Rooster’s Brewing Co. Fort Smith 5.0 BRONZE BAD Company Wild Gravity 5.2

Small Pack Premium Strong Beers

Small Pack Standard Lager Small Pack Porters, Stouts, Small Pack Specialty Beers & Pilsners Old Ales, Strong Milds & Sponsored by Beatson Clark Ltd Sponsored by Beatson Clark Ltd Strong Brown Ales

Beatson Clark Ltd present Maxim Brewery with gold award

GOLD Maxim Brewery Maximus 6.0 SILVER Hambleton Ales LLP Nightmare Legend 6.5 BRONZE Wold Top Brewery Scarborough Fair IPA 6.0

Beatson Clark Ltd present Brass Castle Brewery with gold award

GOLD Brass Castle Brewery Helles Lager 4.4

The Hop Studio receiving their gold award

Treboom Brewery receiving their gold award

GOLD The Hop Studio Porter 4.3 SILVER Ossett Brewing Co Ltd Treacle Stout 5.0 BRONZE The Sheffield Brewery Company Sheffield Porter 4.4

GOLD Treboom Brewery Myricale 5.0 SILVER Great Newsome Brewery Liquorice Lads Stout 4.3 BRONZE Northern Monk Brewing Co Northern Star 5.9

WWW.SIBA.CO.UK

SIBA JOURNAL WINTER 2017

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REGIONAL BEER COMPETITIONS

SIBA North West Region

Bolton Whites Hotel, Bolton 12th October 2016 Overall Champion of the Competition Sponsored by

Napthens LLP

Standard Mild Ales & Brown Ales

Standard Bitters & Pale Ales Sponsored by

SPASoft Ltd

Best Bitters & Pale Ales Sponsored by

Charles Faram & Co. Ltd

Napthens LLP present Blackedge Brewing Company Ltd with their gold award

Blackedge Brewing Company Ltd receiving their gold award

SPASoft Ltd present The Borough Brewery with their gold award

Charles Faram & Co. Ltd present Barngates Brewery with their gold award

GOLD Blackedge Brewing Company Ltd Ginger 4.5 SILVER Brewsmith Beer Oatmeal Stout 5.2 BRONZE Blackedge Brewing Company Ltd Dark MIld 3.9

GOLD Blackedge Brewing Company Ltd Dark Mild 3.9 SILVER Bank Top Brewery Limited Dark Mild 4.0 BRONZE Irwell Works Brewery Tin Plate 3.6

GOLD The Borough Brewery Pale 3.7 SILVER The Bowland Beer co. Ltd. Bowland Gold 3.8 BRONZE Liverpool Organic Brewery Cascade 3.8

GOLD Barngates Brewery Tag Lag 4.4 SILVER Spitting Feathers Special Ale 4.2 BRONZE Southport Brewery Ltd. Golden Sands 4.0

Premium Bitters & Pale Ales

Strong Bitters & Pale Ales

Premium Strong Beers

Bulk Storage & Process Systems Ltd

Rankin Brothers & Sons

Porters, Stouts, Old Ales, Strong Milds & Strong Brown Ales

Bulk Storage & Process Systems Ltd present Blackedge Brewing Company Ltd with their gold award

Rankin Brothers & Sons present Hooded Ram Brewing Company Limited with their gold award

CBI Insurance present Front Row Brewing with their gold award

Murphy & Son Ltd present Brewsmith Beer with their gold award

GOLD Blackedge Brewing Company Ltd Blonde 4.5 SILVER RedWillow Brewery Wreckless 4.8 BRONZE Green Mill Brewery On the Tiles 4.8

GOLD

GOLD Front Row Brewing Obolensky 7.3 SILVER Brewsmith Beer Brewsmith IPA 6.0 BRONZE Hawkshead Brewery IPA 7.0

GOLD Brewsmith Beer Oatmeal Stout 5.2 SILVER Blackedge Brewing Company Ltd Black 4.0 BRONZE Worsthorne Brewing Co Ltd Blackthorne Stout 4.9

Sponsored by

Speciality Beers

Blackedge Brewing Company Ltd receiving their gold award

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Sponsored by

Hooded Ram Brewing Company Limited

Mosaic Single Hop 5.0 SILVER Brightside Brewing Company Ltd Topaz Single Hop IPA 5.0 BRONZE Bollington Brewing Co. Ltd Eastern Nights 5.6

GOLD Blackedge Brewing Company Ltd Ginger 4.5 SILVER Prospect Brewery Ltd Clementine 5.0 BRONZE RedWillow Brewery Smokeless 5.7

Sponsored by

CBI Insurance

Sponsored by

Murphy & Son Ltd

REGIONAL BEER COMPETITIONS

Champion Small Pack Beers Sponsored by

Brewcover

Small Pack Standard Mild Ales & Brown Ales

Small Pack Standard Bitters & Pale Ales Sponsored by

Saxon Packaging Ltd

Small Pack Premium Bitters & Pale Ales Sponsored by

Muntons PLC

Brewcover present Hawkshead Brewery with their gold award

Tony Jerome presents Southport Brewery Ltd. with their gold award

Tony Jerome presents Hawkshead Brewery with their gold award

Muntons PLC present Bank Top Brewery Limited with their gold award

GOLD Hawkshead Brewery Tonka 8.5 SILVER Hawkshead Brewery Windermere Pale 4.0 BRONZE Hesket Newmarket Brewery Ltd Old Carrock 6.0

GOLD Southport Brewery Ltd. Dark Night 3.9 SILVER Bank Top Brewery Limited Dark Mild 4.0 BRONZE Old School Brewery Blackboard 3.9

GOLD Hawkshead Brewery Windermere Pale 4.0 SILVER Southport Brewery Ltd. Golden Sands 4.0 BRONZE Cumbrian Legendary Ales Loweswater Gold 4.3

GOLD Bank Top Brewery Limited Pavilion Pale Ale 4.5 SILVER Prospect Brewery Ltd Gold Rush 4.5 BRONZE RedWillow Brewery Wreckless 4.8

Small Pack Strong Bitters & Pale Ales

Small Pack Premium Strong Beers

Small Pack Premium Lager Small Pack Porters, Stouts, & Pilsners Old Ales, Strong Milds &

Sponsored by

Label Apeel Ltd

Strong Brown Ales

Irwell Works Brewery receiving their gold award

Hesket Newmarket Brewery Ltd receiving their gold award

Label Apeel Ltd present Hawkshead Brewery with their gold award

Tony Jerome presents Red Star Brewery with their gold award

GOLD Irwell Works Brewery Mad Dogs & Englishmen 5.5 SILVER First Chop Brewing Arm Ltd POP 5.4 BRONZE Bank Top Brewery Limited Blonde 5.0

GOLD Hesket Newmarket Brewery Ltd Old Carrock 6.0 SILVER Liverpool Organic Brewery Imperial Russian Stout 7.4 BRONZE The Cheshire Brewhouse Govinda 6.8

GOLD Hawkshead Brewery Lakeland Lager 5.0 SILVER Cumbrian Legendary Ales Buttermere Beauty 4.8 BRONZE The Cheshire Brewhouse Dane’ish 5.0

GOLD Red Star Brewery Partisan 5.3 SILVER Brightside Brewing Company Ltd. Underworld porter 4.4 BRONZE Bollington Brewing Co. Ltd Oat Mill Stout 5.0

Small Pack Speciality Beers Sponsored by Beatson Clark Ltd

Beatson Clark Ltd present Hawkshead Brewery with their gold award

GOLD Hawkshead Brewery Tonka 8.5 SILVER Bank Top Brewery Limited Port O’Call 5.0 BRONZE Blackedge Brewing Company Ltd Black Port 4.9 WWW.SIBA.CO.UK

SIBA JOURNAL WINTER 2017

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REGIONAL BEER COMPETITIONS

SIBA Scotland Region Drygate Brewery, Glasgow 10th November 2016

Overall Champion Cask Beer of the Competition Sponsored by

Label Apeel

Standard Mild Ales & Brown Ales

Standard Bitters & Pale Ales

Best Bitters & Pale Ales

Murphy & Son Ltd

Charles Faram & Co. Ltd

Sponsored by

Sponsored by

Label Apeel present Blackedge Swannay Brewery with their gold award

Williams Bros Brewing Co receiving their gold award

Mike Benner presents Swannay Brewery with their gold award

Charles Faram & Co. Ltd present Swannay Brewery with their gold award

GOLD Swannay Brewery Island Hopping 3.9 SILVER Williams Bros Brewing Co Williams Black 4.2 BRONZE Drygate Brewing Company Dark Skies Stout 5.0

GOLD Williams Bros Brewing Co Williams Black 4.2 SILVER Swannay Brewery Dark Munro 4.0 BRONZE Orkney Brewery Three Sisters 4.2

GOLD Swannay Brewery Island Hopping 3.9 SILVER Windswept Brewing Co Aurora 3.8 BRONZE Kelburn Brewing Co Pivo Estivo 3.9

GOLD Swannay Brewery Scapa Special 4.2 SILVER Williams Bros Brewing Co Birds & Bees 4.3 BRONZE Barney’s Beer Limited Extra Pale 4.0

Premium Bitters & Pale Ales

Strong Bitters & Pale Ales

Premium Strong Beers

Porters, Stouts, Old Ales, Strong Milds & Strong Brown Ales

Sponsored by

Sponsored by Bulk Storage & Process Systems Ltd

Sponsored by

Rastal GmbH & Co KG

Close Brothers Brewery Rentals

Bulk Storage & Process Systems Ltd present Alchemy Brewing Ltd with their gold award

Rastal GmbH & Co KG present Cairgorm Brewery with their gold award

Close Brothers Brewery Rentals present Loch Lomond Brewery with their gold award

Kegstar present Drygate Brewing Company with their gold award

GOLD Alechemy Brewing Ltd Bad Day At The Office 4.5 SILVER Loch Lomond Brewery Bonnie n Clyde 4.6 BRONZE Swannay Brewery Pale Ale 4.7

GOLD Cairngorm Brewery Wildcat 5.1 SILVER Swannay Brewery Duke IPA 5.2 BRONZE Williams Bros Brewing Co Joker IPA 5.0

GOLD Loch Lomond Brewery Bravehop Amber IPA 6.0 SILVER Windswept Brewing Co Wolf 6.0 BRONZE Knops Beer Company Black Cork 6.5

GOLD Drygate Brewing Company Dark Skies Stout 5.0 SILVER Loch Lomond Brewery Silkie Stout 5.0 BRONZE Stewart Brewing Penny Mob Porter 4.2

Speciality Beers

Strathaven Ales receiving their gold award

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GOLD Strathaven Ales Usquebae 7.0 SILVER Loch Lomond Brewery Wild Craft 6.0 BRONZE Orkney Brewery Dark Island Reserve 10.0

Sponsored by

Kegstar

REGIONAL BEER COMPETITIONS

Overall Champion Small Pack of the Competition Sponsored by

Beatson Clark Ltd

Small Pack Standard Mild Ales & Brown Ales

Small Pack Standard Bitters & Pale Ales Sponsored by

Small Pack Premium Bitters & Pale Ales

Saxon Packaging Ltd

Beatson Clark Ltd present Fyne Ales with their gold award

Strathaven Ales receiving their gold award

Saxon Packaging Ltd present Orkney Brewery with their gold award

GOLD Fyne Ales Mills & Hills 9.5 SILVER Drygate Brewing Company Seven Peaks IPA 5.0 BRONZE Drygate Brewing Company Bearface Lager 4.4

GOLD Strathaven Ales Craigmill Mild 3.5 SILVER Orkney Brewery Three Sisters 4.2 BRONZE Jaw Brew Fathom 4.0

GOLD Orkney Brewery Red MacGregor 4.0 SILVER Fyne Ales Hurricane Jack 4.4 BRONZE Loch Lomond Brewery Southern Summit 4.0

GOLD Harviestoun Brewery Broken Dial 4.5 SILVER Loch Lomond Brewery Bonnie n Clyde 4.6 BRONZE Cross Borders Brewing Company Ltd IPA 4.5

Small Pack Strong Bitters & Pales Ales

Small Pack Premium Strong Beers

Small Pack Standard Lager & Pilsners

Small Pack Premium Lager & Pilsners

Mike Benner presents Drygate Brewing Company with their gold award

Fyne Ales receiving their gold award

Drygate Brewing Company receiving their gold award

Edinburgh Beer Factory receiving their gold award

GOLD Drygate Brewing Company Seven Peaks IPA 5.0 SILVER Fyne Ales Sanda Blonde 5.5 BRONZE Barney’s Beer Limited Bastard Amber 5.3

GOLD Fyne Ales Mills & Hills 9.5 SILVER Drygate Brewing Company Crossing The Rubicon IPA 6.9 BRONZE Arran Brew Ltd Id 6.0

GOLD Drygate Brewing Company Bearface Lager 4.4 SILVER Williams Bros Brewing Co Caesar Augustus 4.0 BRONZE Orkney Brewery Latitude 3.9

GOLD Edinburgh Beer Factory Paolozzi 5.2 SILVER Harviestoun Brewery Schiehallion 4.8 BRONZE Loch Lomond Brewery Loch Lomond Lager 5.2

Small Pack Porters, Stouts, Old Ales, Strong Milds & Strong Brown Ales

Small Pack Speciality Beers

Swannay Brewery receiving their gold award

Harviestoun Brewery receiving their gold award

GOLD Swannay Brewery Barrel Aged Orkney Porter (2014 Arran Ed) 10.5 SILVER Born in the borders Elderflower 4.2 BRONZE Stewart Brewing First World Problems 6.2

Mike Benner presents Loch Lomond Brewery with their gold award

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GOLD Loch Lomond Brewery Silkie Stout 5.0 SILVER Stewart Brewing Cauld Reekie 6.2 BRONZE Harviestoun Brewery Old Engine Oil 6.0 SIBA JOURNAL WINTER 2017

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BREWING INGREDIENTS

FOCUS

Bag to bulk with BSPS One of the challenges facing craft brewers and distillers is the management of malt supplies.

Pre-crushed malt is generally delivered in 25kg bags due to the absence at breweries and distilleries of suitable bulk storage for malt. Bulk Storage and Processing Systems Limited (BSPS), a company with more than 30 years’ industry experience, has the solutions.

Bill Egerton, Sales Director of BSPS, explains: “Our company designs and installs systems capable of handling bulk deliveries of whole malt up to 27 metric tonnes. Our systems can be tailored to take into account the individual nature of our customers’ operations and the unique layout of their premises. Once installed our systems deliver both operational and financial efficiencies to the business and will generate a Return on Investment in under three years.”

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A typical project for BSPS will involve one to two silos, each capable of handling 20 to 30 MT of whole malt, and a three or four roll malt mill; providing brewers and distillers with exceptional control over the quality of their malt crush and coloured malt additions into the grist case.

No job is too large or too small for BSPS. Malt mills and grist cases are held in stock and financing packages are available.

The company continues to successfully install “Bag to Bulk” systems up and down the country and 2016 has seen their installations go live at locations such as the Arran Brewery in Scotland, the Kirkstall and Saltaire Breweries in Yorkshire and the Cotswold Brewing Company in Gloucestershire.

If you have a bulk storage and/or processing challenge that needs solving then contact Bill Egerton at BSPS on 01483 202 211 or bill@bulksystems.co.uk

FOCUS

BREWING INGREDIENTS

Dream job for a beer explorer at Crisp Malting Group There are quite a few desirable jobs in and around the brewing and distilling industries – but Colin Johnston reckons he’s just landed the dream one.

He has just been appointed Crisp Malting Group’s new sales manager for craft brewing and distilling.

“That means,” says sales director Steve LePoidevin, “he’ll be on permanent tour, looking after some of the nation’s most dedicated, enterprising and adventurous craft brewers and distillers. He will be spending time with them, looking at their operations and array of beers or spirits; and understanding what makes them tick.

He will be seeing first hand how our craft brewing customers are contributing to the changing face of the drinks industry.

“Some sales jobs are just about selling, but they are so much more in the malting industry – well certainly at Crisp, anyway!

Brewers and distillers look to us for market intelligence, insight into raw materials, ingredients, processing expertise, product development and technical support.”

In his previous role as a consultant, Colin was offering guidance on everything from choosing new equipment and buying and installing plant to improving processes.

Prior to that he had over a decade’s experience of working with brewers ranging from C&C and Tennent Caledonian

to Drygate Brewery. He has a Diploma in Brewing from the Institute of Brewing & Distillers.

His role at Crisp will involve helping startup and small breweries – and supporting more established businesses with their expansion. He says there is a lot that maltsters can do to help breweries with the transition phase as they move from bag to bulk delivery, and is looking forward to supporting with developments.

As well as supplying premium quality malts, Crisp is known in the industry for the technical support it provides to customers. Steve LePoidevin says: “Following years of focus on hops, brewers are getting more and more interested in speciality malts and what they can deliver in terms of flavour, aroma, body and mouthfeel – and colour. Our craft beer sales managers are increasingly called on for advice with recipe development – which they are of course delighted to supply. Colin makes a great addition to the team!”

Colin Johnston, Crisp Sales Manager

“SOME SALES JOBS ARE JUST ABOUT SELLING, BUT THEY ARE SO MUCH MORE IN THE MALTING INDUSTRY – WELL CERTAINLY AT CRISP, ANYWAY!”

While Carl Heron covers north east England and Nigel Gibbons southern England for Crisp, Colin will work with brewers and distillers in the north west England and Scotland.

To find out more, contact the team at Crisp Maltings team on 01328 829 391 or email sales@crispmalt.com

What can torrefied cereals do for your beer?

“Although the spell-checker may turn “torrefied cereals” into “terrified cereals”, neither cereals, nor brewers need fear. Torrefied grains provide all sorts of opportunities for craft brewers.

They offer different attributes from those of malted grain, and are easy to work with on a small or large scale.

The process of torrefication involves cooking the grains in dry air at high temperature. This results in gelatinisation

of endosperm starch within the grain – so torrefied products can be added to the mash without separate pre-cooking.

It is well known that torrefied cereals can be used as a source of extract – and were once used as a cheaper alternative to malt. However, torrefication is no longer shunned as a lesser process; but is embraced as a different one. Torrefied grains are increasingly being explored by brewers as quality ingredients in their own right: ones that can add considerably to the character of the beer.

WWW.SIBA.CO.UK

SUPPLIER viewpoint

Torrefied wheat enhances head retention and mouthfeel. Torrefied maize adds attractive flavour notes akin to cornflakes.

Torrefied oats provide creamy mouthfeel.

Torrefied rice ensures ‘brighter’ beers with lower colour and taste profiles.

We torrefy cereals at Northallerton in North Yorkshire. Assuming you’re committed to – rather than terrified of! - experimentation, these ingredients are well worth trialling.”

Dr David Griggs, Crisp Malting Group technical director @maltingdoctor

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Members of...

Are you fully promoting your beer, your brewery & your business?

If yes, you should be able to tick this checklist

✓

Logo Design ■ Pump Clips ■ Website ■ e-Commerce ■ Brochure ■ Bottle Labels ■ Beer Mats ■ Bar Runners ■ PR ■ Packaging ■ Corporate Video ■ Exhibition Stand ■ Merchandise ■ LemonTop Creativity ■

You Brew it, we brand it.

We are currently working with

over 100 breweries

We'd love to work with you Give us a call on 01325 311177 or email hello@lemontopcreative.com

For inspiration, visit www.LemonTopCreative.com/our-work

FOCUS

SALES, WHOLESALE AND MARKETING

Quantock release Copper Knob Cider Quantock Brewery, based in Somerset, has added Copper Knob Cider to its range to appeal to the younger market being drawn into the craft brewing sector.

Copper Knob is a traditional Somerset craft cider and has been made especially for Quantock by neighbouring Harry’s Cider Company. Using a blend of three apples, it has beautifully balanced fruity flavours with a slightly bitter aftertaste, a traditional characteristic of West Country cider.

Quantock wanted Copper Knob cider to be different, and to stand out among all the other craft ciders. It needed a brand that made it look distinctive and appealed to a target market that may not be familiar with the traditional ales Quantock are already well-known for. They turned to LemonTop Creative, the brewing industry’s leading design agency and experts in brewery and bottle branding. LemonTop produced bottle labels and promotional literature that gave Copper Knob it’s own distinctive look whilst creating a brand that can be transferred to the next cider in the range.

Quantock were so impressed with the work LemonTop did, they have asked them to re-design the brewery’s pump clips and keg fonts.

Quantock Brewery was set up in December 2007 to brew quality real ales in cask and bottles using traditional craft brewing techniques. All the raw materials are sourced locally wherever possible and the resulting beers are distributed to pubs and shops mainly in the South West, but also throughout the UK via wholesalers and national distributors. Being in Somerset, Copper Knob Cider was a natural progression for the brewery.

Quantock Director Cheryl Ford said: “We wanted to produce a cider with flavour and character that was different from the mass produced cider we tend to find in a lot of pubs. We are delighted with how our very first cider has turned out. It tastes and looks great.”

For more information contact LemonTop on 01325 311177 or go to www.lemontopcreative.com

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SALES, WHOLESALE AND MARKETING

FOCUS SUPPLIER viewpoint

Could you acquire 19 new customers in 39 hours?

IWP rebrands Whaley Bridge Brewery in Derbyshire

It sounds like a tall order, but yes, it is possible, says Kim Ward from KimmunicatePlus Ltd. And here’s how….

“Telemarketing your business is the quickest, most cost effective, direct route in establishing new business opportunities for your brand. As long as you have the following then there is absolutely no reason why you cannot achieve the above statistic:

Time 1 Creating awareness of your brand can be achieved very easily by setting aside time each week to pick up the phone, call prospective customers and tell them why they should be offering your product. As a brewer this will probably be the most challenging aspect, however, if you want to start building on your customer base and growing your sales you must dedicate at least 2-3 hours per week to this task.

If you are not actively setting aside time to reach new customers, there will always be competitors who will!

2 Create a target list of prospective customers This doesn’t need to be a huge expensive list - starting with 50 local pubs in your surrounding area you would like to sell your product to should do it for starters.

Make up a list in excel of the pub name, address, telephone number and contact name you want to target and include any details or historical information you might know that may help you in your call.

3 Consistency Do what you say you are going to do.

During your calls you will be asked to send further information or samples.

Be prepared to fulfil those requests, tell them you will follow up their requests the following week (remember you are now calling every week so can promise this!) and make sure you do follow it up.

4 Patience Don’t expect them to buy from you on your first call – put yourself in their shoes, would you if you received a call at home? Most customers want more information before they decide to buy. Pre-empt this and have your info ready to send to them - when they ask, tell them you will send information and will call back to make sure they have received the information - then call back. See if they want samples - tell them you will send samples and will call back to make sure they have received samples – then call back.

Build rapport with your prospective customer, gain their trust and nurture your relationship with them.

5 Persistence Keep going!

Call your 50 prospective customers and establish interest levels.

• Who would like further info?

• Who would like samples?

• Who would like you to go in and see them?

Weed out the dead wood and nurture those that have now turned into opportunities – and don’t forget to build on your opportunities and add more pubs to your target list!”

Look out for some more sales tips in the next edition - it’s not what you say but how you say it! For more information call KimmunicatePlus on 01823 330 614 or email kim@kimmunicateplus.co.uk.

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“WE HAVE DEVELOPED A CLEAN, SIMPLE AND CONTEMPORARY GRAPHIC STYLE FOR WHALEY BRIDGE BREWERY THAT IS DESIGNED TO RESONATE WITH THE LOCAL DRINKER WHO IS LOOKING FOR SOMETHING A LITTLE BIT DIFFERENT.” Whaley Bridge Brewery, based in Derbyshire’s beautiful High Peak, recently commissioned specialist food and drink marketing agency Irving Whitehouse Partners (IWP) to redevelop the Whaley Bridge brand across their amazing range of small-batch beers.

Steve Whitehouse, Director of Food and Drink Marketing at IWP, said of the project: “We believe that to succeed in an ever more saturated market place, small, independent brewers must focus first and foremost on developing trade on their doorstep. With this in mind, we have developed a clean, simple and contemporary graphic style for Whaley Bridge Brewery that is designed to resonate with the local drinker who is looking for something a little bit different.

“We are very proud of the new brand we have developed for Whaley Bridge Brewery the first step in the next phase of growth for their business.”

Whaley Bridge’s Head Brewer Mike Wilde said: “We are delighted with the new image, now the beer looks as good as it tastes.”

For more information call IWP on 01625 560 200 or email contact@iwp.co.uk.

FOCUS

SALES, WHOLESALE AND MARKETING

How to get your brewery sales back on track in 2017

SUPPLIER viewpoint

“At The Business of Drinks, 2016 was an interesting year. We saw more breweries opening and many more successfully raising funds via Crowdfunding or other means. However, in particular, we saw one important trend. Many breweries have become less concerned with building their brewing team and more focused on bringing in sales expertise. The big realisation is that producing great beer is not enough. You still need to go out and sell it!

However, our experience over the years with many breweries indicates that sales is not always a well managed process, and simply hiring more sales people may not be enough. The missed opportunities resulting from a lack of structure and an inconsistent activity will generally impact your sales results and affect your profitability.

The remedy is quite simple – put a professional sales plan and process in place.

Here are our three key steps to get your sales flying in 2017:

A sales plan will have four parts to it: • It looks at your ambitions and resources in order to lay down a ‘plan of sales’ in particular channels.

• Your plan should then be crossexamined against your brand and its values – no point going for premium outlets if your brand cannot sustain it.

• Next include a rationale as to why you are going to get the sales wished for in each channel.

• Lastly a monthly event calendar outlines the strategy per distribution channel explaining how you will achieve the sales.

1 Vision Create a clear vision of where you want your company to be in the next few years.

This will help you clarify the channels that you want to operate in and what you expect in revenue and profit from those channels.

2 Sales plan Too often the sales strategy is sitting in someone’s head rather than in a written, communicable plan.

3 Sales process This is the point at which many breweries fall down. That’s probably because developing and maintaining your sales process is the most difficult and timeconsuming element. However, once you have a process in place, you’ll be better able to build a steady stream of new clients to feed your growth plans.

Once again there are some key steps to getting it right: Create a prospect list, place it in a CRM

system, not a spreadsheet. Build that prospect list assiduously over time and communicate to it regularly about your company and your products.

Create a contact process, whether it is in person, by newsletter or cold calling. Hone your elevator pitch so it’s simple and clear.

Understand what you are going to say, what the customer wants and how you can deliver the promise!

Qualify the companies that are interested in you, ensure they fit the brief of what you are looking for.

Finally, when you sign a new customer, make sure you delight the customer and that you deliver to their expectations.

Follow this process and make 2017 the year of sustained and profitable sales growth.

The Business of Drinks helps independent breweries to grow and develop their business, by providing 1-2-1 advice from our team of expert and experienced business advisors.

Join us at our “Brewing in the UK” event on 7th March 2017 or talk to us about improving your sales process at Stand 82, BeerX 2017.

For more information about these events, visit www.businessofdrinks.co.uk.

Make your POS work harder for your brewery!

Classic POS advertising tools such as Bar Runners, Towels and Counter Mats have stood the test of time for many reasons.

Firstly, pubs and venues love them as they allow them to clearly display and promote the brands that are available to their customers. Secondly, they are highly functional, allowing venues to keep their bars and counter tops clean and dry. Finally, and most importantly for brewers, they really work! Ensuring your brand is displayed right at the point of purchase is proven to be an effective way to increase brand visibility for established brewers and help to boost awareness of new products.

That said, it’s important to get the most from your promotional materials and there are some simple, yet effective ways to maximise the return from your marketing investment.

Sophia Prosser, Marketing Manager at UK based POS manufacturer Purple Mustard Ltd, adds: “We want our customers to get the

most out of their POS products and are increasingly working with our brewery customers to help them to enhance their designs and ensure that they deliver on multiple levels. For example, a great way to help boost social media followers is to ensure you clearly display all of your social media handles within your design.

Alternatively, drive more traffic to your website and grow your customer database by integrating a simple QR code along with an incentive as part of your design. These simple additions will really help you achieve visibility far beyond the bar and allow you to effectively track the return of your marketing investment.”

For more information about POS for your brewery, you can contact the team via www.purplemustard.co.uk or alternatively, speak to the team directly at BeerX 2017. Don’t forget, as a SIBA member you are entitled to exclusive member only pricing on Purple Mustard Bar Runner Packages.

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FOCUS

SALES, WHOLESALE AND MARKETING

Does coaching have a role in the brewing industry?

Jeff Long, small business consultant with Business Doctors, looks at how coaching can help your business grow: “Running a business has its ups and downs. On a good day, life is sweet and you’re living the dream. But being a business owner can also be lonely and extremely challenging. You probably started out fired up with a passion for creating great beers, but ended up getting bogged down in the day-to-day dealings of a highly complex trade.

Very soon you might have found yourself working in the business - dealing with logistics, money, staff issues, health and safety, customers and suppliers - rather than on the business – developing the plan for where you want to be and, most importantly, how you are going to get there.

Small businesses owners often talk of hitting a wall and being unable to work their way past it. Whether it’s winning bigger contracts, scaling up production or exploring new markets, the next big step can sometimes be a step too far.

Increasing numbers of entrepreneurs are turning to business coaching as a way to gain focus on key issues and work out not only where to start, but, more importantly, ensuring that they actually do start.

A business coach could help you to understand where your efforts should best be directed in order to capitalise on both your own personal assets and the strengths of your business. It’s all too easy to become a “busy fool”, spending too much time working hard on low value activities.

Here are some of the issues that can be worked through with business coaching: You have lost sight of where your business is going and why

you to bring a fresh approach to the way you do things.

A business coach will ask you difficult questions, help to devise a plan, and challenge you to take action today.

Your business isn’t generating enough profit to justify your efforts You may have stared your business for the sheer enjoyment of being able to do what you love, brewing beer. However, in order to be sustainable, your business needs to be generating profits - especially if you want to be able to invest and build your business for the long-term.

The temptation, in any business, is to chase turnover, but it pays to remember the old adage “turnover is vanity, profit is sanity”.

A business coach will challenge your thinking and help you identify and focus on the specific actions that will quickly grow your bottom line.

SUPPLIER viewpoint

You have loads of brewing experience but you don't really understand business A business coach may not necessarily have direct experience of the brewing industry, however, what they will have is masses of experience of running and advising a wide variety of businesses. A coach will work with you to identify your strengths and weaknesses and work to improve specific aspects of your own performance.”

Business Doctors works with small and medium sized companies of all kinds to help them to grow.

Jeff Long can be contacted on 07967 444676 or jeffl@businessdoctors.co.uk for more information see www.businessdoctors.co.uk

You’ve created a good brewing business, but what’s it going to take to become amazing?

By definition, it is not possible for every business to be above average. Most companies fail to make the transition from good to amazing.

We aren’t all natural entrepreneurs. For most business owners, making this leap means a lot of hard work. A business coach will help you to identify what you are passionate about, what you could be the best in the world at and what makes you money.

You believe that the business simply won’t work without you

Given the day-to-day needs of your business, it’s not surprising that you get so bogged down in “stuff” that you simply can’t see the wood for the trees.

Unless your business can run without you being there every day, you are, believe it or not, just an employee. You don’t have a real business that can stand up by itself.

This has an enormous impact not only on the hours you put in, but on the value of your business, if and when you decide to sell it. If there is no business without you, then there is no business.

As an interested but dispassionate observer, a business coach will help you to understand what’s important. They are not blinded by preconceptions and will help

A business coach will help you to put together a management team, so that the business will thrive whether or not you go into the office today.

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GOLD SPONSORS

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GOLD SPONSORS

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GOLD SPONSORS

Over 180 Breweries now using BrewMan BrewMan continues to be developed by our customer requests and is now available as a local system or on the Cloud. We also have an SQL version available for larger installations giving growing breweries an easy growth path and peace of mind.

BrewMan software features:

Outlet Telesales • Outlet Credit chasing • Product Pricing and Discounting • Cask Tracking • Dray Planning • Dray Runs • Duty Calculations • Stock Control • Repeat Orders • Ullage • DDS Orders • Retail Orders • Comprehensive reporting • S AGE integration and other accounting systems.

BrewMan’s Mobile Delivery Application Using BrewMan’s Mobile Delivery Application and the latest ruggedized mobile technology you can now easily record all customer deliveries and returns whilst at the same time recording cash receipts and capturing the customer’s signature.

BrewMan’s Mobile Delivery Application has the following major functions: • • • • • •

Display Order Details Container Delivery Scanning Delivered Quantity Update Signature Capture Payment Recording Container Return Scanning

Time Savings Using BrewMan’s Mobile Delivery Application Once you have planned the route for the day, the delivery application will download all of the routes and the drayman can select the route they will deliver. Upon return to the brewery, all of the delivery application details are automatically uploaded to BrewMan. This data is downloaded and uploaded automatically via your WIFI. • • • • •

The delivered items update container tracking Orders are updated with quantity changes Orders are flagged as complete Payments are logged and reported The returned items update container tracking

Signature Capture Any invoice printed will automatically have the customer’s signature appended onto the document.

This means that all of the scanning for deliveries and returns is done at the point of delivery, and all order information is updated upon return to the brewery. This is a major time saver for your office staff who are no longer required to verify the orders and scan the deliveries, and returns, once the draymen return. Also, for those customers that insist upon a signed copy of the order, the signature is captured by the drayman and, from then on, automatically appended to all printed or emailed copies of the order or invoice.

For more information or to arrange a demonstration, please email sales@premiersystems.ltd.uk Premier Systems Ltd, Whitesides Farm, Fritham, Lyndhurst SO43 7HH

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GOLD SPONSORS

Customer testimonials “Premier Systems have been an excellent partner for our brewery.

We have been a customer for 5 years and they have assisted us through every step of our growth. Initially through the data migration process to the new system, then through adhoc training as we have experimented with increased functionality and reporting capabilities and most recently with the upgrade to BrewMan cloud. The latter has been a complete revelation for our team, enabling staff to work remotely which has been extremely important for our sales team. With Premier also looking after all of the security, backups and database management it also allows me to sleep better at night!”

“On a day-to-day basis, we have found BrewMan’s telesales module second to none and wouldn’t be without it. Duty Returns are so simple and quick to produce and, over the years, this has saved us many man-hours. We have also found the container tracking easy to use and very effective. We installed BrewMan in 2008 and it’s a decision we have never regretted.”

Duncan Sambrook Sambrook’s Brewery

Fran Munro Milestone Brewery

Bre

“Whilst working towards achieving our SIBA FSQ accreditation at Flack Manor we decided to completely update our quality control program. As part of this update we used the BrewMan production module to handle the record keeping.

A year on from our audit we are still using the system to very good effect. BrewMan production keeps our ordering, cost control, stock control, traceability, production movements, cleaning schedules and logs all in one place. Our record keeping is now joined up and accessible, data entry is real time and achievable. I feel confident we can go on to achieve higher accreditations using the systems we already have in place.

I would recommend BrewMan production to any brewer who prefers to spend their time in the Brewhouse rather than in front of a computer screen.”

wed

With

Pa s s i o n

In The Heart Of England

“BrewMan has saved Binghams Brewery a considerable amount of time and effort since we installed it in 2010.

It does everything that we need it to do from cask labelling and tracking to invoicing and exporting into our accounts package. Support from Premier Systems is great and I know that they are there if I need them. In summary, a great product and great support.”

Chris Bingham, Director Binghams Brewery

Terry Baker, Production Director Flack Manor Brewery

“We started using BrewMan at the start of this year and have found it very useful in the day to day running of the brewery. The invoicing and stock management system is very robust. The gyle tracking option helps produce excellent reports for our duty return records. The production module is the one that I use most. It is really helpful from the traceability point of view.

It did help us a lot to successfully pass the SIBA FSQ audit. There are certain excellent features in there like maintaining cleaning records, raw material forecasting and ordering. It is very good for calculating production cost very accurately depending on the information you provide.”

“BrewMan has revolutionised the workings of our brewery. It’s allowed us to grow in a manageable and controlled way, keeping a close eye on stock levels, the location of casks, and calling customers at exactly the right time. The time saved on administration has also been well worth the investment, with approximately 5 staff hours saved per week.”

Venkatesh Lyer – Leeds Brewery

Claire Monk, General Manager Welbeck Abbey Brewery.

“We have had BrewMan now for just over 7 years and have found it to be invaluable for our day to day operations. From telesales to cask tracking it is a very easy to use system and the efficient team at Premier are always willing to offer help and support when needed.”

“We have been using BrewMan since the inception of Burning Sky and I cannot imagine how we would have managed without it! Easy to use, it takes care of all the boring stuff (stock control, duty etc), - leaving us free to concentrate on making beer and keeping our customers happy!”

Peter Salmon, Director Bays Brewery

Mark Tranter, Head Brewer Burning Sky Brewery

Telephone:

02380 811100

www.premiersystems.ltd.uk

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SIBA Sir Chris Bonington launches special beers from Hesket Newmarket Brewery

REGIONAL NEWS ROUNDUP NORTH WEST REGION

Hesket Newmarket Brewery is introducing four distinctive new craft beers specially formulated by brewer Nathan Gregory.

Called the Blencathra range, the bottled beers were launched at Rheged in November by Sir Chris Bonington, a shareholder and long-time supporter of the brewery co-operative.

Named after the magnificent local fell, Blencathra was one of the first beers created in 1988 by brewery founder Jim Fearnley. Now the name is being revived for the new beers which embrace the best of modern craft brewing styles and techniques. Some are classic styles, some more recent but all are full of flavour and character, paying tribute to the best beers brewed around the world.

The beers in the Blencathra range are Smoked Porter (ABV 5.4%), Columbus Pale Ale (ABV 5.8%), West Coast Red (ABV 6.3%) and Double IPA (ABV 7.4%).

At the recent Carlisle Beer Festival, beer enthusiasts had a one off chance to drink Columbus Pale Ale from the cask, the rest being reserved for bottling. Advertised by CAMRA as a “world exclusive” the beer was the first to sell out.

The new Blencathra range complements the cask and bottled beers already produced by the brewery, most of which are named after local fells.

The brewery website can be viewed at www.hesketbrewery.co.uk.

Peerless revamps brands to back business growth

Wirral’s innovative Peerless Brewing Company - now in its seventh year has been busy fine tuning its core cask range as it goes forward to the next stage of growth.

The rationalisation and roll out of new brands builds on the major 2015 investment to double capacity as demand for the award winning ales has spiralled not just in the Wirral and Merseyside and across the North West but also nationally.

Two new brands have been named to reflect the rich heritage of the region.

Lottie Dod (ABV 4.2%) pays tribute to the illustrious Bebington born Charlotte “Lottie” Dod, a sportswoman best known as a tennis player. Lottie won the Wimbledon Ladies Championship five times - the first in the summer of 1887, aged just 15.

A second new beer is Langton Spin (ABV 4.4%) a rebrand of the highly popular Peerless Gold and named for a manoeuvre carried out by Mersey River pilots.

Following the first Liverpool Pilotage

Act in 1766 to stop the loss of ships in the busy traffic heading to the Port of Liverpool, pilots developed the Langton Spin. This unique technique of spinning the ships around enables vessels of up to some 400ft to enter Langton Lock on an ebb tide. First launched in the bottle to celebrate 250 years of Mersey piloting, it was issued in gift packs to at a special celebration for river pilots.

“SINCE OUR START UP SEVEN YEARS AGO COMPETITION, BOTH LOCALLY AND NATIONALLY, HAS BECOME FEROCIOUS, WITH MORE AND MORE BREWERS ON THE SCENE EACH YEAR.

Recently the brewery team - now six strong - has been strengthened with law graduate turned trainee brewer Matt Brown joining Mark Powell and Alex Morley while former pub and restaurant operator Peter Walsh has taken a sales and distribution role as Peerless gears up to drive business with quality products and service at the forefront. Peerless founder and managing director Steve Briscoe said: “Since our start up seven years ago competition, both locally and nationally, has become ferocious, with more and more brewers on the scene each year. In the face of this, our drive for quality has to be at the heart of our operation. Accordingly, we have invested in new testing regimes and new staff alongside our new brands.”

Find out more at www.peerlessbrewing.co.uk.

To free up brewing capacity the revamp has seen cask ales Paxton’s Peculiar and Crystal Maze dropped from the core list along with keg brew Storr Lager, as Peerless concentrates on a rounded range of varied strength, quality cask brands.

To supplement the core range, a series of creative monthly specials are also to be released in 2017.

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Simple breweries Breweries that simply work At PBC we design, supply and install brewery equipment throughout the UK and the world, and we’re passionate about giving you the power to brew great beer. We’ve installed over 350 breweries and have unrivalled expertise and 00experience in our field.

Simply put, we are the number one micro-brewery installer in the UK.

Visit pbcbreweryinstallations.com to find out more or call us to talk about a new brewing plant or our specialist training courses.

PBC (Brewery Installations) Ltd. Unit 1, Foundry Business Park Ordsall Lane Salford M5 3AN

Mobile: +44 (0)7976 845705 Web: pbcbreweryinstallations.com Email: info@pbcbreweryinstallations.com

The UK’s number one micro-brewery installer

SIBA

REGIONAL NEWS ROUNDUP NORTH WEST REGION

Outstanding Brewing Co expands and relocates to Salford After two years of detailed planning and nearly £1 million of investment, The Outstanding Brewing Co has moved to brand new purpose-built premises at The Foundry Business Park in Salford.

The brewery has resided in Bury, Greater Manchester, since 2008.

Continued sales growth and investment in additional equipment had seen the brewery expand to a point where the current premises were no longer suitable.

David Porter, the company’s managing director, said: “It’s been unbelievably difficult to manage the move. It seems that so many things beyond our control wanted to get in our way of completing the successful transition from the old site. However, now that we are in the new premises, we are all really excited about the opportunities that our new location and investment in new brewery plant generates for the business. We’ve trebled our available space and doubled our current brew length, but most importantly, it has put us in a position to continue to develop and exploit the unbelievable potential that the business has.”

The brewery’s plant has been designed to retain Outstanding’s dual brewing system (two mash tuns and 2 coppers installed side by side) enabling the brewers to brew a small batch and a large batch at the same time. This gives Outstanding the flexibility to produce both beers that sell in high volumes and interesting smaller run seasonal brews and specials.

Find out more at www.outstandingbeers.co.uk

Best beer award for small family-run brewery One of Cumbria’s newest real ale producers, the family-run Carlisle Brewing Co, has won the top prize at Solway CAMRA’s Beer of the Year Awards.

Alain and Alison Davis, who also run The Spinners Arms in Cummersdale, diversified only three years ago as pubs were going through rough times.

Spun Gold was the second beer produced

by Alain in converted buildings at the rear of the pub. It immediately won the 2013 Beer of the Festival at the CAMRA Beer Festival and has since gone on to be the best selling beer the brewery produces.

Such is its quality that three years on, at the Carlisle Beer Festival held recently at The Venue, Spun Gold again took top honours.

Festival organiser Paul Claringbold sayid: “We were very happy to give the award for Beer of the Year to Spun Gold. The beer was among eight shortlisted by the branch

from local breweries and then voted for by the Solway CAMRA members.”

Alain and Alison Davis

Alain and Alison made the decision to expand the brewery in 2015 and with support from the Cumbria LEP and Enterprise Answers moved to bigger premises on Kingstown Industrial Estate and increased production capacity.

“We now have a core range of 11 recipes covering hoppy blondes through to an oatmeal stout that we produce on a regular basis,” says Alain.

Spun Gold and the other Carlisle Brewing Co beers can be found in a wide range of pubs, bars, bistros and shops throughout Cumbria.

For more information go to www.carlislerealale.com

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SIBA

REGIONAL NEWS ROUNDUP NORTH WEST REGION

Moorhouse’s hits the high notes with new brews and awards Moorhouse’s – now Lancashire’s leading independent brewery - has ramped up its national marketing with the roll out of a collaboration brew with the iconic New Order band.

Stray Dog (ABV 4.2%) was created at Moorhouse’s £5m state-of-the-art brewery by head brewer – and keen fan – Dan Casaru and named after a track on the Manchester band’s new album, Music Complete. Cask-conditioned, Stray Dog is brewed with three US hop varieties for hints of citrus fruit and lychee, all balanced by a subtle bitterness.

It aims to appeal to both craft and traditional ale categories along with New Order’s fan base of both young people and loyal followers from their 1980s hey-day.

Following a successful launch with M&B

pubs, the golden premium ale is now available across the free trade nationally.

Moorhouse’s sales director Mark Boardman said: “Stray Dog has been a terrific addition to our award winning portfolio and has been well received. As we go forward as a traditional brewery with a very modern style, Stray Dog has been developed by Dan Casaru to champion this outlook.”

To support publicans, Dan’s brewing team has also been busy crafting a raft of exciting innovative seasonal ales for 2017 alongside the six championship core ales now including the terrifically popular White Witch (ABV 3.9%), a former seasonal. The year starts with Ice Witch (ABV 4.3%), light, gold ale, single hopped with Citra for intense aromas of tropical fruit, mango and pineapple. This is followed by Moorhouse’s

IPA (ABV 4.3%) in February, traditional British IPA style beer with a modern twist.

Other new brews include Moorhouse’s Irish Red Ale (ABV 4%) and Azacca (ABV 3.8%), blond ale which showcases the US Azacca hop. Moorhouse’s also celebrated a hat-trick triumph for its Pendle Witches’ bottle range with three of the six core brews claiming accolades at the fiercely contested British Bottlers Institute Annual Awards.

In its first brewing contest, the recently launched White Witch (ABV 3.9%), claimed gold while judges voted a silver medal for Pendle Witches Brew (ABV 5.1%) and a diploma for Blond Witch (ABV 4.5%) in their various ale categories.

For more information go to www.moorhouses.co.uk.

IT AIMS TO APPEAL TO BOTH CRAFT AND TRADITIONAL ALE CATEGORIES ALONG WITH NEW ORDER’S FAN BASE OF BOTH YOUNG PEOPLE AND LOYAL FOLLOWERS FROM THEIR 1980S HEY-DAY

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Visit us at BeerX 2017

So much more than just rental Cask & Keg Rental Long and short term cask and keg rental. We offer a fixed monthly rental over an agreed term on casks and kegs branded to your specification and delivered to your brewery.

ECasks & Craft EKegs ECasks and Craft EKegs provide a unique cask and keg rental service for brewers providing a solution to their UK wholesale trade requirements. You brew and deliver to wholesalers, tell us where you have sent them and we collect the containers.

16 – 19 March Stand 74, 75 & 76

Sale & Rent Back Our Sale and Rent Back solution enables you to release capital held in your existing assets. By buying all or part of your container eet from you, we are able to unlock that capital so it can be reinvested to help in other parts of your business.

Equipment Finance We offer funding solutions for equipment used within the brewery, cider production and wider drinks industry that let you make long term investments.

Container Services We repair and service brewery containers across the UK and we offer a professional and reliable repair and warranty management service.

To find out more call us today on 01425 485421 or visit www.closebreweryrentals.co.uk

Close Brothers Brewery Rentals is a trading style of Close Brewery Rentals Limited, which is a subsidiary of Close Brothers Limited. Close Brewery Rentals Limited is registered in England and Wales (Company number 5826492) and its registered office is Unit 1, Kingfisher Park, Headlands Business Park, Blashford, Ringwood, Hampshire BH24 3NX.

SIBA

REGIONAL NEWS ROUNDUP NORTH WEST REGION

Hawkshead Brewery goes into cans Hawkshead Brewery has launched its first two beers in can – both highly hopped pale ales, one strong and one session strength.

I.P.A. (ABV 7%) is an American-style India Pale Ale, hopped with a powerful blend of American and New Zealand hops. Iti (ABV 3.5%) is a session version of the brewery’s premium strength New Zealand Pale Ale (NZPA.) “Iti” is the Maori word for “little.” It is brewed with several varieties of hops from New Zealand.

Hawkshead’s Head Brewer, Matt Clarke is a New Zealander who has specialised in brewing highly flavoured complex beers using kiwi hops (find out more about Matt in our Meet the Brewer feature on pages 19-25).

Both beers have been chill conditioned and canned unfiltered and unpasteurised.

Hawkshead has also released a Cigar City collaboration beer, Tiramisu Imperial Stout, inspired by the classic Italian dessert.

The beer is a strong stout, weighing in at ABV 10%, and is made with coffee beans and eight varieties of malt. It exhibits rich, luscious layers of coffee, mocha and cream flavours.

It was brewed at Hawkshead Brewery in October with Wayne Wambles, Head Brewer of Cigar City Brewery of Tampa Bay, Florida.

For more information go to www.hawksheadbrewery.co.uk

Stringers “Mutiny” is acclaimed Champion Bottled Beer of Britain The strong stout “Mutiny” from North-West brewer Stringers was singled out as the best of the country's bottled conditioned real ales at CAMRA's “Great British Beer Experience” at the BBC Good Food Show, held at the NEC Birmingham in November.

Gold winner - Stringers Brewery

Stringers Mutiny (ABV 9.3%) is a rich sumptuous double stout with coffee, chocolate and liquorice flavours. It was highly rated by the judges for its flavour, aroma and overall appearance.

Nick Boley, CAMRA's National Director responsible for the competition, said: "Congratulations to Stringers Brewery for winning the Champion Bottled Beer of Britain award for its Mutiny stout, which is one of the highest achievements in the beer world.

To win the award demonstrates a significant level of

creativity and ingenuity in the brewing process. We were particularly impressed with Mutiny this year because it consistently secured high scores from all the judges for its taste, aroma and appearance. It is a clear winner."

Stringers brewer Jon Kyme said: “We're surprised and, of course, really pleased. We knew it was a good beer, but to be recognised like this is a great boost for a small brewery.”

For more information go to www.stringersbeer.co.uk.

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SUPPLIER NEWS

The two largest Keg Services companies join forces as beerQX The world’s two largest keg solutions providers, who provide stainless steel kegs and keg related services to brewers in the US and the UK, have joined forces. UK’s Close Brothers Brewery Rentals (CBBR) and US-based MicroStar Logistics are collaborating to offer brewers flexibility and efficiency whilst maintaining quality that comes with a combined scale of over four million kegs.

They send plastic one-way kegs that may not offer the quality and reliability brewers seek, or they ship expensive stainless steel kegs and incur high loss rates or inefficient logistics.

“THE GLOBAL BEER INDUSTRY IS EVOLVING RAPIDLY AND ONE CLEAR THEME ACROSS NEARLY ALL BREWERS IS AN INTEREST IN HIGHER QUALITY, MORE EFFICIENT EXPORT SOLUTIONS.”

This new collaboration, called beerQX, will provide a high-quality transatlantic cold-chain controlled bulk transport service designed by brewers for brewers. US craft beer will now arrive in the UK faster and fresher than ever before and UK and European brewers will be able to get their beer to the US more efficiently.

With beerQX this is about to change.

When it comes to exporting beer across the Atlantic, brewers have been forced to compromise on either quality or cost.

“The global beer industry is evolving rapidly and one clear theme across nearly all brewers is an interest in higher quality,

more efficient export solutions,” said Paul Sherman, Managing Director of CBBR. “As we got to know MicroStar, we were impressed with the complementary nature of our businesses and quickly realised that by working together we could offer unparalleled beer export solutions.”

“Both MicroStar and CBBR were created to help brewers grow and beerQX is a natural extension of that mission,” says MicroStar’s President and CEO, Michael Hranicka. “In addition to relying on us to meet their existing keg needs in their home markets, through beerQX, brewers can now benefit from our combined expertise and dense network of stainless steel kegs to get their beer to new markets across the Atlantic.” beerQX expect to begin serving brewers in the US and UK starting in the first half of 2017 and will look to quickly expand into additional European markets shortly after.

Email info@beerQX.com to learn more.

ALECTIA strengthens process division with new senior vice president The engineering and consulting company ALECTIA has hired Thomas B. Olsen to lead its process division, which advises some of the world’s largest breweries, food processors, dairies and pharmaceutical companies. The former CEO of Nordic Sugar will be responsible for strengthening ALECTIA’s position globally.

Thomas B. Olsen said: “I look forward to developing ALECTIA’s process division even further and to working closely with our many clients from the international processing industry. My many years in the industry have taught me where consulting adds the most value. Competition on the global market is extremely tough and speed is of the essence in all markets. As such, it is very important that we can help our clients move quickly from decision to implementation.”

For more information go to www.alectia.com.

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“COMPETITION ON THE GLOBAL MARKET IS EXTREMELY TOUGH AND SPEED IS OF THE ESSENCE IN ALL MARKETS.”

Thomas B. Olsen

SUPPLIER NEWS

Retrofit safety using innovative control valves

SUPPLIER viewpoint

“The food and beverage industry has embraced automation - partly due to the necessity of reducing production costs, but also to help meet food safety standards and personnel safety legislation. By taking a modular approach to automation, plant owners can gradually introduce new technologies and expand the number of automated processes, in order to maintain productivity and keep up with the latest safety legislation.

Increasing levels of automation in industrial processes has required additional levels of safety and reliability to be introduced, which has led to, amongst other things, the adoption of the European Union’s new Machinery Directive ISO 13849 and a number of new standards such as IEC 62061.

Within both of these pieces of legislation are details of increased safety functions, known as Safety Integrity Levels (SIL) or Performance Levels (PL) that categorise control components and structures with regard to fault detection, redundancy and reliability.

Plant manufacturers and operators are required to carry out an assessment of the safety of their equipment and if necessary make improvements to bring it within compliance. One of the crucial aspects of this evaluation is the provision of emergency valves and stop procedures that prevent harm in the event of an employee intervening in a process.

Taking the brewery sector as an example, the equipment used for brewing has access hatches and inspection chambers that should only be used when it is safe to do so. In addition, emergency stop circuits should be in place so that a process can be stopped quickly, should the need arise.

The new directive has placed increased importance on the level of safety required in these circumstances, which may require additional investment by the plant owner.

Safety circuits have very specific requirements, especially in terms of wiring and redundancy of components. As a simple example, an emergency stop circuit should have two sets of contacts in the pushbutton, which should be hard-wired to a safety relay or safety PLC which in turn is hard-wired to contacts that stop the process. This sort of arrangement would be classified as PLc or SIL1, which would be suitable for low level risks.

If the plant risk assessment has identified a higher category for a particular process, then it will be necessary to improve the reliability of the safety circuit. This can be done by introducing additional redundancy, which in the example above would be the addition of a control valve that could shutdown the process in question in the event that the original contacts had failed.

Many automated processes use pneumatic valve islands, connected to PLCs, to maintain the production process and any safety related circuits are separate from the valve island. Fortunately, in many cases the new standards can be achieved

WWW.SIBA.CO.UK

without massive alterations to the existing control infrastructure – a simple retro-fit can improve the safety levels and achieve compliance.

Plant managers can upgrade existing control structures to PLc or SIL1 with a compact solution and minimal changes to the circuit. The only addition to the control cabinet is the safety relay, if it was not already present, which keeps both costs and space requirements to a minimum.

In more demanding applications that require a higher level of safety, it is possible to introduce a redundancy valve block that will enable PLd or SIL2 to be achieved, which can apply to many applications in the hygienic sector where clean-in-place (CIP) procedures are used.

In processes where an inspection hatch can be opened for maintenance for example, it is essential that the process must be stopped if a cover is removed at an inappropriate time. Under normal circumstances the safety valve on the pneumatic valve island will stop the process, but in situations where there is an increased risk, the redundancy block is positioned so that if the safety valve does not operate, then the process will be stopped by the backup valve.”

Mark Lilley is the Field Segment Manager, Hygienic – Food & Beverage, at Bürkert UK. Bürkert offers a wide range of smart process valves and safety control valves that solve problems, reduce energy usage and increase productivity, as well as delivering an unrivalled design and development service here in the UK. www.burkert.co.uk.

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SUPPLIER NEWS

SUPPLIER viewpoint

Savings from other billed charges “Control Energy Costs Ltd began working with a SIBA brewery member a few weeks ago and has highlighted mid-contract savings opportunities from charges other than the contract price of over £5,000 per annum. This was made up of errors or overcharges from five different charges.

How did we do this?

Our initial work was to conduct an in-depth analysis of one electric, gas and water invoice. The suppliers make overcharges and errors on the main charges as well as the numerous, complex - and often unseen on the invoice - sub-charges.

We are able to find and rationalise these discrepancies for our clients in the form of refunds, immediate mid-contract reductions and regular long term savings.

If you wanted to use us for new contract prices when they are due, we would expect to beat brokers’ or client direct prices for a number of tangible and proven reasons but we would never expect our clients to dispose of their brokers services.

Happily, this is at no charge to any of our clients as we work on a shared savings basis with a special rate for SIBA members.”

CEC Ltd has been in business for 35 years and has around 1,000 business clients looked after by 12 experienced analysts. The company is a Supplier Associate members of SIBA and the sole energy and water analysts (not brokers) for members. Contact Michael Richardson at CEC Ltd on 07501465503 or email michael@cec.uk.com for more information.

Bottled at your site... at your convenience Following considerable investment, and more than two years of development, the world’s first fully comprehensive mobile processing and bottling unit has hit the roads.

Carmichael Mobile Bottling (UK) Ltd started commercial operations in Scotland a few months ago, with it’s first rig and a brand new DAF truck nobly named Lord of the Isles. Already targeting the future demands of the industry, the second truck will be named after the notorious Wolf of Badenoch, and the accompanying bottling line is currently in manufacture, with plans to start mobile bottling operations in England in early 2017. Further trucks and rigs are being planned to expand CMB’s operations in UK for the increasing number of craft breweries, cider, mead, mixers, csd’s and water producers.

The Carmichael designed and manufactured equipment comprises a full processing system including chilling, sterile filtration, carbonation, and CIP, whilst the actual bottling line which runs at 1,800 bph (30 bpm) incorporates both left hand and right hand unwind pressure sensitive labellers, Linx ink jet coding on bottle necks, rinsing, filling, and crowning.

For packing there are options for both a box taper and a tray/ shrink wrapper. To supply the power, the unit is fitted with a 34 kva generator and the unit also carries 2,000 litres of water for CIP and cleaning. Can filling will also be available on all the future rigs from 2017.

In addition to the mobile operation, CMB will be setting up strategic hubs throughout the UK using the vehicles in certain areas where customers with limited access or small volumes can have their products sent for bottling.

For more information go to www.c-m-b.co.uk.

Atlas Packaging expands potential with new warehouse Devon-based Atlas Packaging has expanded its business by opening the doors to a purpose built 20,000sq.ft warehouse.

The new state-of-the-art logistics unit will provide the ability to store up to 3,600 pallets in purpose-built racking that provides the ideal storage environment. The unit will also aid distribution and material handling, helping with efficiency.

Atlas Packaging has become an established market leader in the packaging industry since it began in 1983. The new warehouse will support the continued growth of the company which includes partnerships with major retailers such as Waitrose, Asda, B&Q and Harrods as well as renowned brands such as Interflora, Baileys, Johnny Walker, Pall Group, Barbers Cheese, Forrero Rocher, Kinder and many more.

Jason Sharman, Managing Director at Atlas Packaging, said: “We are extremely excited to unveil our new logistics unit as this will increase storage requirements and greatly aid our material handling efficiently, which will ensure a quicker and more efficient process for our customers.”

For more information go to www.atlaspackaging.co.uk.

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Helping brewers produce beers to the highest possible standard.

Training new brewers to reach their full potential.

170 breweries assisted over three decades.

• Regular on-­‐site visits. Our bespoke service ensures we know both your plant and your personnel, so our advice is always tailored to your needs • Technical support for day-­‐to-­‐day production or quality issues • Experienced professional brewers at the end of a phone • On-­‐site training to help your employees develop their skills and fulfil your vision and values • Residential training courses • New start-­‐ups. We offer a full consultancy service, from concept to completion and beyond

For a cost-­‐efficient solution for your technical and staffing needs, contact: David Smith or Rob Smith David: 07970 629552 / Rob: 07966 693097 enquiries@brewingservices.co.uk www.brewingservices.co.uk

Trusted by brewers since 1988

REDUCE MANUAL HANDLING AND SAVE MONEY!

Suppliers of speciality cleaning & hygiene chemicals for all SIBA breweries info@cclpentasol.co.uk

Call 01942722000 www.cclpentasol.co.uk Detergents, Disinfectants, Conveyor Lubrication, Water & Effluent Treatment

Bring your material handling process into the 21st Century, automate your system with a Collinson silo and conveyor and eliminate heavy bag handling.

• Silos: - Storage from 1-30t - Fully Galvanised - Choice of 6 Plasteel™ colours - Any discharge height • Conveyors: - To suit various lengths or speed - Pick up from existing store • Material weighing facilities • Solutions for all business sizes

CCL Pentasol a division of Zenith Hygiene Group Plc

www.zhgplc.com

T: 0800 542 5772 collinson.co.uk

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Big for small and medium-sized breweries.

The KHS Innofill Glass Micro: For up to 25,000 bottles per hour.

■ ■ ■

Low-maintenance computer-controlled filling technology Multiple evacuation for low O2 pickup Hygienic design for optimum cleaning Learn more at www.khs.com or scan the QR code.

SUPPLIER NEWS

SUPPLIER viewpoint

Five tips for better cashflow Martin Bown of My Management Accountant and My Credit Control helps brewers focus on the day to day running of their businesses through outsourced credit control.

Here he gives some tips for improving your cashflow:

1 I nvoice promptly.

Often small businesses concentrate on delivering the goods and services to their customers but then take time raising the invoice. Sometimes businesses forget to raise certain invoices at all, and customers won’t be the ones to remind you.

Using online accounting apps, invoices can be raised whenever and wherever (so, for example as you make a delivery to a pub you can immediately email an invoice to the landlord). Also, the older a debt is, the harder (and more costly) it becomes to chase.

2 O ffer numerous ways to pay. In today’s world the last thing

most businesses want to do is pay by cash or by cheque. Invoices can be paid via online banking, or via low-cost credit card payments services such as Stripe, which offers an online link within your invoice. Physical card payments can also be taken via low-cost services such as iZettle which connect a customer’s card to a phone, tablet of laptop.

3 K eep in touch with customers who owe money. Don’t send

the invoice and expect they’ll simply pay it. Speak to them to make sure they received the invoice, that they agree the charges, and that they can give you a payment date. This is particularly important when you are dealing with the large breweries, all of whom will have finance departments well trained at holding on to your money for as long as they can.

4 M anage payments. Keep on top of VAT, corporation tax and PAYE liabilities – HMRC will have no trouble chasing you. Likewise, your suppliers will want payment on their agreed terms just as you do off yours. Late payment to your suppliers means you run the risk of reduced credit and/or higher prices, or worse still, no credit at all.

5 F orecast – use your accounting software, or a spreadsheet, to forecast future sales, purchases and tax liabilities.

For more information go to www.mymanagementaccountant.co.uk and www.mycreditcontrol.co.uk.

Seal and Pump adds to its range The latest range of pumps from Seal and Pump, BREWMASTER, consists of three sizes of 316 stainless steel pumps having flow rates from as little as 2 m3/h up to 20 m3/h at a maximum head of 2.5 bar Pressure.

Standard connections are RJT male and for mobility these pumps can be kitted on portable trollies.

The firm currently has over 30 in service at various breweries across the UK over the past few months, and more orders already in the pipeline in 2017.

Seal and Pump also carries an array of both centrifugal and vertical multi-stage pumps, flexible impellor pumps, and can supply diaphragm, progressive cavity and dosing pumps and equipment, as well as specific hygienic pumps.

Over the past three months, the company has also added other equipment into its portfolio, and supplied a handful of plate heat exchangers to several breweries ranging from 5 to 30 barrel sizes.

For more information, visit www.sealandpump.co.uk or if you have any specific requirements, call 01262 602467 or e-mail simon@sealandpump.co.uk.

Thornbridge invests in new KHS bottling line Thornbridge Brewery has recently invested in a brand new KHS bottling line, the Innofill Glass Micro DPG from KHS. The pneumatically controlled filling system provides Thornbridge with precision technology and flexible application capabilities. The Innofill Glass Micro DPG will initially operate at a capacity of 3,000 – 9,000 bottles per hour. However, the plant can be expanded to an output of 15,000 bottles/hr. The bottle filler is blocked with a bottle rinser, which includes a specifically designed vacuum pump, allowing re-circulation and re-use of empty bottle rinse water to dramatically reduce water consumption on the block.

As Head Brewer, Rob Lovatt, said: “KHS has provided a “Rolls-Royce” of bottling lines; its technology will enable us to achieve extremely low levels of dissolved oxygen in the bottle, it will future proof the growth of the brewery and will prove to be an extremely robust piece of kit with greatly reduced downtime. The bottom line is that we are putting our beer first.”

For more information contact Andy.Carter@khs.com or go to www.khs.com.

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SUPPLIER NEWS

‘Consultancy with a difference’ goes live!

An exciting new consultancy project is launching its services.

Brewindex is the brainchild of leading professionals – including former SIBA stalwarts Keith Bott and Julian Grocock – who have a breadth of knowledge and a wealth of experience as senior executives in the beer and pub sector.

The ‘dream team’ consortium is setting out its stall to offer strategic guidance, targeted advice and co-ordinated support to brewing companies, in the context of an increasingly complex, crowded and competitive market.

Partners with impressive CVs have joined together as an inhouse specialist index, to give clients access to essential areas of expertise: finance, legal and personnel; operational structure and business development strategy; premises, plant design and installation; brewing, packaging and logistics; and marketing, sales and retail.

“The phrase ‘a one-stop shop’ might be a bit of a cliché,” explains Julian Grocock, “but that’s exactly what Brewindex is planning to be for any enterprise seeking fast-track and uncomplicated access to operational infrastructure and development resources.

We can save time – and therefore money – with incisive analysis of and co-ordinated solutions for every brewery’s imperatives and aspirations.”

An initial two-hour exploratory and diagnostic meeting will be offered free-of-charge and without obligation to existing breweries.

For prospective new companies a fee will be charged, but this will be credited against the first full day’s work if consultation services are agreed.

Further details and contact information can be found at www.brewindex.co.uk.

Brew-School offers new date for GCB Course February 2017

Brew-School is running a new six-day Practical Commercial Brewing Course in February in association with Tim O’Rouke of Brilliant Beer Company.

This course leads to the internationally recognised General Certificate in Brewing (GCB) qualification, with attendees booking and paying for the exam separately through the Institute of Brewing and Distilling.

The course is an ideal foundation for junior brewers to gain a recognised brewing qualification and also for keen amateur brewers looking to deepen their knowledge base as well as people interested in setting up their own microbrewery now or in the future. Included on the course for the first time will be a full day advanced brewing element using a Spiedel Braumeister kit to look at recipe development for homebrewers and microbreweries.

The course takes place in Bakewell from Monday 27th February to Saturday 4 March inclusive and the cost for the course is £1,000. Brew-School are offering a £100 discount to SIBA members making the course £900.

For more information go to www.brew-school.com, email info@brew-school.com or call 0114 383 0150

A.E. Chapman & Son Ltd. unveils new lightweight 500ml amber beer bottle A.E. Chapman & Son Ltd., wholesaler of glass packaging to the UK’s brewing industry, has launched a new light weighted 500ml amber beer bottle.

In conjunction with O-I, the world’s largest glassmaker, A.E. Chapman & Sons is the first UK wholesaler to develop their own standard range of lightweight beer bottles.

Based on the original 299g bottle and

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using the latest technology from O-I’s state of the art plant in Harlow, the partnership has succeeded in reducing the overall bottle weight down to 280g, while at the same time maintaining all of the original qualities of the heavier bottle.

This new design is now available to order exclusively through Chapman’s in quantities from as low as one pallet. This means that even the smallest independent

brewer not only has the opportunity to make a significant dent in their carbon footprint, they also have the added bonus of making a noticeable reduction in the purchase cost of their bottles, while at the same time maintaining the brand image they have today.

For more information go to www.aechapman.com

You have the Beer, We have the Bottle

Our 500ml beer bottle is now even lighter just 280g

A E Chapman & Son Ltd UK’s largest glass bottle wholesaler

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Tel 020 7622 4414 Email aecsonltd@aol.com WWW.AECHAPMAN.CO.UK

Timbermill Way Gauden Road London, SW4 6LY

cloud and wings: Johannes Kornelius martan Shutterstock.com

SUPPLIER NEWS

‘Is the beer market saturated?’

SUPPLIER viewpoint

“This is a question we get asked regularly.

As we enter 2017, having witnessed yet another year of phenomenal growth for the independent brewing sector, it is perhaps a good time to reflect on just what the future holds.

As the market becomes ever more crowded and with almost one in six SIBA members expecting their production, sales and turnover to double by 2018, new breweries hidden away on soulless industrial estates may find selling beer to hardnosed and hard up landlords an uphill struggle. Instead, I believe the future for successful breweries lies in selling more beer direct to the drinking public, offering a unique customer experience alongside a quality product.

This isn’t necessarily a new trend.

Breweries such as the long-established York Brewery and its newest neighbour BrewYork, both within the city walls, have bars and visitor centres doing brewery tours and other events, attracting locals as well as tourists. Oakham Ales in Peterbrough, another well-established name, offers Thai food to accompany

their beers. Fyne Ales, based on a farm in Argyll, has a bar, café and visitor centre open seven days a week and also sells beef from its draft-fed herd. At Wold Top in Yorkshire and High House Farm in Northumberland you can get married if you so wish. There are numerous other examples of brewers using their breweries as the focal point for other activities around which to sell their beers.

I believe that we could double or treble the number of small breweries in the UK, not at the expense of other brewers all chasing the same free trade outlets but by repurposing venues such as redundant churches, old cinemas, railway stations, motorcycle showrooms and other citycentre buildings.

Larger towns and cities could comfortably sustain several of these smaller breweries, producing their own styles of beer in varied locales, alongside other differentials such as specific cuisines, live music or sports.

From a quality and business perspective, onsite brewing and consumption means cutting out the middleman, leading to fresher beer being served and greater profit for the brewery.

WWW.SIBA.CO.UK

We should also remember that, despite rising sales of craft beer through supermarkets, drinking beer should first and foremost be a social activity, enjoyed with good company in hospitable surroundings. Small breweries must lure customers from their armchairs; what better way to do that than with quality beer served in memorable locations?

Is the market saturated? For those breweries simply selling beer into the free trade and trying to gain market share by producing more and more styles, the answer may soon be yes. There are already far too many casks, kegs, bottles and cans sat ageing in brewery cellars up and down the country as customers overwhelmed with choice flit from Next Big Thing to Next Big Thing.

For those breweries willing to be brave, the answer is no. If we can’t be more creative with our beers, then the time has come to be more creative with our breweries.”

David Smith offers consultancy services through Brewing Services & Consultancy Ltd. For more information go to www.brewingservices.co.uk.

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SUPPLIER NEWS

Brewology’s Tornado Keg Washer and Evolution Keg Filler installed at Morrow Brothers Leeds based brewery manufacturer Brewology recently completed installation of their Tornado Keg Washer and Evolution Keg Filler at Morrow Brothers Packaging in Preston.

The machines were designed and manufactured at Brewology’s UK manufacturing facility. The company have invested heavily in development of their kegging range ensuring that latest technology and innovations work together with the traditional brewing process.

Liam Morrow from Morrow Brother said: “With more and more craft brewers looking to get into the keg market, Morrow Brothers Packaging felt that offering a complete keg filling solution was the only option. The Brewology machine has allowed the company to offer a comprehensive keg solution to this ever expanding part of the marketplace.”

For more information go to www.brewology.co.uk or call 0113 457 0487.

Saxon Invests in film lamination Due to the growth in demand for film lamination from their customers, Saxon Packaging recently invested in a Paperplast Dry 70 Thermal Film Laminator allowing the firm to bring this process in-house.

Film lamination has long been one of the most popular and cost effective methods in the packaging industry of providing durability, high gloss, scuff resistance and crack prevention. As well as these advantages to the packaging quality, film lamination can also be used to enhance packaging using a range of films including silk, matte, soft touch as well as gloss and anti-scuff.

Film lamination can be done in conjunction with foiling (pre-lamination) and die cutting, creasing, embossing and debossing as well as several other finishes (all post lamination).

For more information go to www.saxonpackaging.co.uk.

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“THE BREWOLOGY MACHINE HAS ALLOWED THE COMPANY TO OFFER A COMPREHENSIVE KEG SOLUTION TO THIS EVER EXPANDING PART OF THE MARKETPLACE”

Brewology are the UK’s leading supplier of brewery automation equipment. From complete brewhouses, CIP Sets, Tanks, Cask and Keg Cleaning and Packaging equipment to spares and service and state of the art automation.

Based in Leeds, West Yorkshire, Brewology’s highly skilled team of engineers offer in-house design, manufacturing and software development as well as a complete after-sales service team.

From a complete turnkey solution to a spare seal call us today on 0113 457 0487.

www.brewology.co.uk

We’ll Handle It.

Efficient. Sustainable. Turn-key. Featuring limitless custom or off-the-shelf handle options, in-line applicator solutions and superior service.

PakTech is the smart choice. We have your packaging needs handled.

Put PakTech quality to work for you at paktech-opi.com or call (541) 461-5000.

SUPPLIER NEWS

SUPPLIER viewpoint

Have British supermarkets finally woken up and smelt the hops?

“For several years now, American retailers have embraced the craft beer revolution and filled their aisles with arrays of craft beers, looking more akin to our own supermarket wine category than the usual bland beer aisle. For the record, we probably consume about twice as much beer than wine, in the UK. From Walmart, to Trader Joe’s, to Wholefoods, American supermarkets have been featuring craft beer as a key feature in their customer experience for the past few years. If you are lucky, you can even find a bar in your local Wholefoods supermarket, serving craft beer on draught…

Why has it taken UK retailers so long to discover craft beer? The revolution has come and gone, yet we are only just starting to see more definitive category planning. Will 2017 see the ‘supermarket sweep’ for craft? Almost certainly, yes.

M&S, Waitrose, Booths and Morrisons are already filling their shelves with craft and speciality beers, whilst according to The Grocer, ‘Tesco has expanded its craft beer portfolio available in its express stores from two to more than 30 different brews.’ Tesco says it had seen its craft beer portfolio rocket 130% in the past year. However, there is still work to be done to help the consumer understand and navigate the category.

So what are the learnings for brewers?

The traditional ale category, with its 500ml brown bottles, is already well defined. Craft is defining itself through smaller bottle formats and cans, maybe it will also follow the American lead of 750ml sharing bottles. Differentiation is key, both by category and brand understanding your value proposition and having a great story to tell are key factors, so too is looking outstanding on shelf.

When it comes to the FMCG (Fast-Moving Consumer Goods) sector your brand

design can give better ROI than even an above-the-line ad campaign. So invest wisely, the serious brand owners take a lot of care over their packaging design.

Semiotics, communications’ hierarchy and consumer appeal are all key. In the blink of an eye, the shopper has to like what they see, understand what you are, believe in you and want to pick you up – before they move on to the adjacent competition. The returns are high in terms of volume and streamlined distribution, however, so are the stakes. And the odds of real success are long, there are approximately 2,000 brewers in the UK and many of these are expanding.

Your brand and packaging design can significantly shorten these odds.

It is also worth remembering the wise business phrase: volume is vanity, profit is sanity.”

Myles Pinfold is the founder and director of brand strategy at WPA Pinfold - the award winning beer and cider brand design specialist. For more information go to www.wpa-drinks.co.uk.

PakTech expands distribution in Europe

PakTech, supplier of multi-pack can carriers to over 1,600 premium craft brewers and cider makers in the US, UK, and Australian markets, is adding bottle handles to its UK/EU offering for 2017.

These are produced for several bottle diameters, including longneck and heritage styles, and securely hold the bottle tops just below the crown.

For both bottle and can carrier handles, PakTech provides Automated Application equipment. A new offering for 2017 is a semi-automatic MCA30 machine that is of compact size, requires only compressed air and an operator, and will apply up to 30 containers per minute.

For more information contact Nancy Baker, International Sales Manager, on +1 (541) 228-4799 or email: nancy.baker@paktech-opi.com

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GOLD AND SILVER SPONSORS

Gold Sponsors BREWERS SELECT

CHARLES FARAM & CO LTD

CLOSE BREWERY RENTALS

MURPHY & SONS LTD

NAPTHENS

PREMIER SYSTEMS LTD

John Gray jgray@brewersselect.co.uk

Frances Maud Frances.Maud@ murphyandson.co.uk

Paul Corbett paulcorbett@ charlesfaram.co.uk

Malcolm Ireland Malcolm.Ireland@ napthens.co.uk

Emily Plowman eplowman@ closebreweryrentals.co.uk

Jackie Smith Jackie@ premiersystems.ltd.uk

CROXSONS

Tim Croxson Tim.croxson@ croxsons.com

THOMAS FAWCETT & SONS LTD James Fawcett JFawcett@ fawcett-maltsters.co.uk

Quality, Consistency & Support

Silver Sponsors ZOEDALE PLC

Tim Guest tim@zoedale.co.uk

WILLIS PUBLICITY

Carl Andrews carl@willispublicity.co.uk

MUNTONS PLC

Joanna Perry joanna.perry@muntons.com

BFBI

Ruth Evans ruthevans@bfbi.org.uk

SPASOFT LTD

NORRIQ LTD

RUSSELL SCANLAN

SAXON PACKAGING LTD

Nigel Hoppit nigel@spasoft.ltd.uk

Mike Dickinson mike.dickinson@russellscanlan.com

CRISP MALTING GROUP

Nigel Gibbons nigel.gibbons@crispmalt.com

PENTAIR FOOD & BEVERAGE SOLUTIONS

Debbie Larkin debbie.larkin@pentair.com

David Ashmore david.ashmore@norriq.com

Suzy Harrold suzyharrold@saxonpackaging.co.uk

RANKIN BROTHERS & SONS Barry Jones barry@rankincork.co.uk

BREWFITT LTD

James Paxman jamespaxman@brewfitt.com

BEATSON CLARK

Charlotte Taylor charlotte.taylor@beatsonclark.co.uk

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SCHAFER CONTAINER SYSTEMS

Mike Hickman mike.hickma56@outlook.com

MOESCHLE (UK) LTD

Andrew Wall andrew@moeschle.co.uk

MGT LIQUID & PROCESS SYSTEMS Yigal Battash Yigal@mgt.co.il

ADS2 BRANDS

Chloe Walker chloew@ads2brands.com

IC FILLING SYSTEMS LTD Nicolle Rodgers sales@icfsgroup.com

KEGSTAR

Monique Hinton monique@kegstar.com

Weigh up the Difference COME AND SEE US AT STAND 44 BEERX 2017

Lightweight Glass Bottle

Which one is lighter, cheaper to ship and shatterproof?

✔ Standard crown cap ✔ 12 months’ shelf life ✔ 100% recyclable

PET Plastic Bottle ✔ Standard crown cap ✔ 12 months’ shelf life ✔ 100% recyclable ✔ 90% lighter than glass ✔ Approx. 4kg per case lighter* ✔ Shatterproof ✔ Cheaper to ship Approved for: ✔ Outdoor events ✔ Stadiums ✔ Arenas ✔ Festivals ✔ Beach bars ✔ Poolside

For more information on how our PET bottles can open new markets and increase your margins visit www.spinkscompak.com, call 0113 235 0662 or drop in to our stand at BeerX. *Based on a case of 12x500ml bottles

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“Specialising in the Manufacture and Supply of Keystone’s For Beer Barrels“ Our industry standard T.P.E. Rubber Keystones have been tried and tested by brewery’s na�onwide for over 15 Years.

“Food Contact Compliant Material” We manufacture both so� and hard variants packaged in 'Poly-lined Polypropylene Sacks'.

Our Keystone’s are supplied in quan��es of 1000 and are all individually marked for 'End of Life Recycling'.

Price Per 1000 Delivered £62.50 + Vat Pallet quan�ty Prices Price Per 10,000 Delivered £50 / 1000 + Vat Price Per 40,000 Delivered £47.50 / 1000 + Vat So please visit our online shop at

WWW.POLY-TEK.CO.UK Or alterna�vely you can contact the sales team directly on 01795 439222

30 day accounts available upon request Unit 8, Fairway Business Park Castle Road, Eurolink Sittingbourne Kent ME10 3FB

Tel +44(0) 1795 439222 Fax: +44(0) 1795 439444 Email: info@poly-tek.co.uk Www.poly-tek.co.uk

The world’s best selling plastic casks Privately owned established over 40 years, operating to BRC/IOP Grade A and retail accreditation.

Servicing small and large quantity requirements having digital and conventional combination print facilities inc:• Hot foil • Cold foil • Digital Spot Colours • High build tactile screen / varnish • Embossing • Conventional Print up to 10 cols Producing on any paper or synthetic, wine, chill, ice bucket approved adhesives.

Supplying premium soft drinks, beers, wine, spirits, food, toiletries, horticultural alongside any decorative label requirements.

We also manufacture:• Plain labels • Peel n Read • Leaflet / Booklet labels

Call 01432 453146 email: info@breweryplastics.com

www.breweryplastics.com

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Can also supply Ribbons for overprint machinery B S Labels Ltd - Wood St, Earl Shilton, Leicester LE9 7NE Tel:- 01455 8444451 Fax:- 01455 842607 www.bslabels.co.uk Contact:- Elaine Swingler - 07867 787320

MEET THE SIBA TEAM

MEET thE SIbA tEam NAME: Rachel Harriott JOB TITLE: Operations Manager CONTACT DETAILS: rachel.harriott@siba.co.uk

NAME: Sara Knox JOB TITLE: Company Secretary CONTACT DETAILS: sara.knox@siba.co.uk

Describe your role at SIBA. I oversee the Operations team and the day to day running of SIBA, whether this be financial or reporting, my role covers a large area of SIBA’s activities.

How long have your worked at SIBA and what did you do before? I have been in the SIBA team 10 years come August 2017. Before joining SIBA I worked part time in admin.

What inspires you about your job? The brewers’ dedication to what they are most passionate about - brewing award winning beers - and there are some fantastic beers out there. Not forgetting to mention my fellow SIBA colleagues and how they are dedicated to their roles. It makes me proud to be part of such a fantastic team What’s new in your department for 2017? 2017 is certainly going to be a exciting year for the Commercial Team. For starters, it will see the introduction of the new Beer Manager – where Beerflex Brewers will be able to update their brands and delivery areas in a more timely manner for the majority of customers – watch this space Beerflex Brewers Tell us something SIBA Members might not know about what SIBA does. SIBA provides Cellar Service Support to pubco customers, brewers or freetrade customers on behalf of our brewing members. Our contractors can be out to a site and resolve maintenance issues within four hours in some cases.

Describe your role at SIBA. My role at SIBA has evolved over many years. I am currently the Company Secretary which means I have to make sure that we are constitutionally compliant, I also support the Directors. As I am based in the Ripon Office I help out when we are stretched with beer orders and emails. As I am one of the longest standing members of staff, I also have an important role to play in sharing my long experience of SIBA’s history and growth over the years.

How long have your worked at SIBA and what did you do before? I have worked for SIBA for 20 years. Before that I worked in the banking world, I was a manager of an Abbey National Branch and then a Mortgage Consultant.

I also found time to bring a couple of children into the world.

How do you support SIBA Members? I have less contact with members, which I miss, but I now help members through supporting the Directors, the Board and the Executive. I love going to BeerX when I can meet many old friends from the industry.

Tell us something SIBA Members might not know about what SIBA does. SIBA works behind the scenes for our members in many ways. Currently SIBA is looking at introducing SIBA Partners, we realise that a very competitive market place is creating unprecedented commercial pressures for many of our members. As part of our focus on promoting growth, sustainability and excellence and given our position and influence as the organisation for independent breweries, we wish to provide support by working with partners who can provide genuine benefits for members' businesses and which SIBA cannot provide on its own.

If you could drink any beer anywhere in the world what would it be and where? It would have to be Elgoods’ Cherry Wheat Beer whilst sat by a pool in Florida!

If you could drink any beer anywhere in the world what would it be and where?

I don’t have a firm favorite but wherever I am I always try the local beer.

I recently had a trip to visit my son in Copenhagen where the beer is fantastic and I did not have a single sip of Carlsberg.

NAME: Louise Gosney JOB TITLE: Commercial Administrator CONTACT DETAILS: louise.gosney@siba.co.uk

What does a typical day consist of for you? A typical day would involve responding to queries by email and telephone, and taking orders from publicans. Although no day is entirely the same, I still have the same jobs to complete every month, like ensuring suppliers and brewers get paid by the end of the month.

Describe your role at SIBA. My main role is the administration of NCRNet (National Cask Repatriation Network), processing supplier invoices and raising payments. I also collate and submit the quarterly Brewers’ changes to Enterprise Inns.

How long have your worked at SIBA and what did you do before? I have been at SIBA for six and half years and before that I worked at Bettys Tearooms in Harrogate.

How do you support SIBA Members? I support members in trying to get their casks returned and do my best to support them with any queries they may have in relation to incorrect uplift of containers.

What inspires you about your job? How much SIBA has changed and grown in the six years I have worked here. I think it is great working with brewers around the country and that now, in every pub I walk into, my friends ask me which beer is best – it’s just a shame my job doesn’t involve that much beer drinking!

What’s new in your department for 2016? We welcomed our new Financial Controller, Rebecca, to the team.

Tell us something SIBA Members might not know about what SIBA does.SIBA is in regular discussions with Kegwatch and third parties to try to reduce the number of member’s casks being uplifted within the industry through building awareness of the SIBA orange labels.

If you could drink any beer anywhere in the world what would it be and where?

As I’m writing this I will be heading off to New York in a few days time so maybe I’ll have a bottle of Brooklyn Lager in the café under Brooklyn Bridge.

WWW.SIBA.CO.UK

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contacts SIBA Head Office: 01765 640441

DIRECTORS

Mike Benner Managing Director mike.benner@siba.co.uk Nick Stafford Operations Director nick.stafford@siba.co.uk Tony Jerome Communications & Membership Director tony.jerome@siba.co.uk John Hart Finance Director Sara Knox Directors Assistant sara.knox@siba.co.uk

Cellar Services: 01765 641099

OFFICE TEAM

Neil Walker PR & Marketing Manager neil.walker@siba.co.uk Rachel Harriott Operations Manager rachel.harriott@siba.co.uk Rebecca Kirby Financial Controller rebecca.kirby@siba.co.uk Louise Gosney Commercial Administrator louise.gosney@siba.co.uk Jenna Barningham Regional Executive – North East, North West & Scotland jenna.barningham@siba.co.uk Siobhan McGonigle Regional Executive – East, Midlands, Wales & West siobhan.mcgonigle@siba.co.uk Cheryl Ford Regional Executive – South West & South East cheryl.ford@siba.co.uk

BOARD OF TRUSTEES

Existing members wishing to contact your regional representatives can use the relevant regional e-mail addresses listed below. For individuals, just type firstname.lastname@siba.co.uk Chairman of SIBA Guy Sheppard Exe Valley Brewery

EAST east@siba.co.uk Sam Abbott Lincolnshire Brewing Co Stuart Bateman George Bateman & Son Ltd Marcus Beecher Elgood & Sons Ltd MIDLANDS midlands@siba.co.uk Christopher Harrison-Hawkes Idle Brewery Ltd John Allcroft Grafton Brewing Co Anthony Hughes Lincoln Green Brewing Co Ltd NORTH EAST northeast@siba.co.uk Ian Fozard Roosters Brewery Mark Anderson Maxim Brewery Dave Shaw Hop Studio Ltd NORTH WEST northwest@siba.co.uk Greg Bolton Coach House Brewing Co. Dave Sweeney Bank Top Brewery Patsy Slevin Prospect Brewery

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SIBA JOURNAL WINTER 2017

SCOTLAND scotland@siba.co.uk Andrew Richardson Black Wolf Brewery Gerald Michaluk Isle of Arran Brewery Stuart Cail Harviestoun Brewery SOUTH EAST southeast@siba.co.uk Tom Bott Signature Brew Ed Mason The Five Points Brewing Company SOUTH WEST southwest@siba.co.uk Justin Hawke Moor Beer Company Ltd Stephen Heptinstall Cotleigh Brewery Kevin Newbould Flying Monk Brewey WALES & WEST west@siba.co.uk Buster Grant Brecon Brewing Norman Pearce Corvedale Brewery Chris Gooch Teme Valley Brewery

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